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THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


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THE    EFFECTIVE 
SMALL   HOME 


BY 

LILIAN  BAYLISS  GREEN 

Formerly  Editor  Little  House  Department 

OF 

The  Ladies'  Home  Journal 


ILLUSTRATED 

WITH 

DRAWINGS  AND  PHOTOGRAPHS 

BY 

THE  AUTHOR 


NEW  YORK 

ROBERT  M.  McBRIDE  &  COMPANY 

1917 


n_.i 


Copyright,   1917,  by 
Robert  M.  McBride  &  Co. 


Published  February,  1917 


TO 

MY  HUSBAND 

THE  AMIABLE  VICTIM 

OF 

MY  HOMK-MAKINO  EXPERIMENTS 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEB  PAGE 

Introduction  to  Part  I i 

I     Training  the  Child's  Sense  of  Beauty     .  3 
II     The    Impossible   Type   op   Rented   House 
and  Things  That  May  Be  Done  to  Im- 
prove It 13 

III     A  Practical  Plan  for  the  Newly  Mar- 
ried      24 

IV     How  I  Furnished  Our  New  House     .      .  34 

Introduction  to  Part  II 51 

I     Suggestions  for  Furnishing      ....  57 

II     Lighting  Fixtures 75 

III  The  Hanging  op  Curtains 79 

IV  Floor  Coverings 89 

V     Tableware  and  Silver 94 

VI     Pictures  and  Other  Ornaments     .      .      .  103 

VII     System  in  the  Household Ill 

VIII     Ugly   Things   Improved   or   the   Art   of 

Making  Use  of  What  Is  at  Hand     .      .117 
IX     Plants,    Flowers    and    Fruits   in    House 

Decoration 122 

Appendix  I 133 

Appendix  II  Recipes  and  Suggestions     .  145 

Bibliography 185 

Index 189 


THE  ILLUSTRATIONS 

IN  HALF-TONE 

A  living-room  which  contains  expensive  and  inex- 
pensive furnishings      ....  Frontispiece 

TACINQ 
FAQB 

An  English  style  suburban  house  of  stucco  ...  6 

A  Colonial  house  restored 6 

A  room  improved  by  redecorating 7 

Mahogany  furniture  against  a  background  of  gray 

walls 7 

Two  views  of  a  well  planned  kitchen     ....  28 

A  buffet  both  sides  of  which  are  utilized  ...  29 

A  hall  and  a  dining-room  entrance 40 

A  symmetrical  arrangement  for  a  dining-room    .      .  41 

A  simple  and  attractive  guest  room 41 

A  buffet  made  from  a  kitchen  cabinet       .      .      .      .58 

A  Hepplewhite  sideboard 58 

Furniture  painted  at  home 58 

A  washable  slip  cover  for  a  wing  chair     ....  59 

A  bathroom  which  contains  a  linen  closet       ...  84 

Iron  bedsteads  made  sightly  by  chintz  coverings      .  84 

A  corner  cupboard  made  from  old  window  blinds      .  85 

A  day  bed  that  conceals  another  bed  by  its  valance  .  118 

A  kitchen  30  X  40  inches 118 

Two  views  of  an  ingeniously  made  closet       .      .      .119 

Ivy  used  for  wall  decoration 124 


THE  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TACINQ 
PAGE 

A  corner  effectively  arranged 124 

Flowers  on  a  window  sill 125 

A  plate  rack  that  obviates  dish  wiping    .      .      .      .125 

IN  LINE 

PAGE 

A  Colonial  homestead  whose  gardens  carry  out  the 
motif  of  the  architect  and  express  the  owner's 

individuality 4 

The  main  section  of  the  Colonial  house  after  restora- 
tion         7 

A  home  evolved  from  a  doctor's  offices     ....  14 
A  cupboard  built  to  cover  an  unsightly  partition       .  15 
The  bathroom  side  of  the  cupboard,  used  as  a  sup- 
ply closet 15 

A  house  that  was  easily  made  livable       ....  18 
Designs  that  show  what  can  be  accomplished  with 

two  rooms  and  a  bath 26 

The  ground  plan  of  a  nine-roomed  suburban  home   .  35 

The  second  floor  of  the  nine-roomed  house  ...  36 
A  plate  rack  easily  made  that  can  be  used  above  a 

serving  table 66 

Different  types  of  doors  require  different  curtain 

treatment 81 

Effective  curtaining  for  the  old-fashioned  type  of 

high  window     .          81 

Curtaining  which  does  not  keep  out  the  light      .      .  82 

Three  types  of  over  curtains 83 

Decorative  windows  should  have  plain  curtains  .      .  84 
Regulate    light    from    high    casement   windows    by 

Dutch  or  double  curtains 86 

Curtains  of  thick  materials  hung  on  rings  take  the 

place  of  shades  at  casement  windows     ...  86 

The  primary  use  of  portieres  is  to  insure  privacy     .  87 


THE  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PACDI 

A  salad  bowl  of  plain  green  pottery,  Sedgi  plates  of 
the  same  shade  of  green  and  figured  cruets  give 
variety  to  the  meal      .  96 

Mantel  treatment  in  sleeping  room  of  old  Colonial 

house 109 

Showing  what  can  be  done  with  an  ugly  oak  chiffo- 
nier        121 

The  lights  in  the  window  on  Christmas  Eve  .      .      .127 

Candle  brackets ISO 


THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


PART  I 
INTRODUCTION 

"Life  don't  consist  in  holding  a  good  hand,  but 
in  playing  a  poor  hand  well." 

A  Ranchman's  Epitaph. 

The  ranchman's  philosophy  has  always  ap- 
pealed to  me,  but  never  more  so  than  in  its 
application  to  the  Effective  Small  Home. 
Such  a  home  is,  to  my  mind,  one  that  affords 
an  environment  for  family  life  which  inspires 
high  ideals,  to  be  practiced  first  in  the  home, 
and  afterwards  in  the  community. 

In  order  that  the  small  home  may  be  effec- 
tive, both  esthetically  and  ethically,  house- 
keeping, which  is  only  one  factor  in  home-mak- 
ing, must  be  efficient;  that  is,  there  must  be  a 
definite  plan  whereby  required  results  may  be 
obtained  with  the  least  possible  expenditure  of 
time,  energy,  and  money. 

In  the  Bibliography  is  given  a  list  of  books, 
specializing  in  different  phases  of  efficiency, 
which  will  be  of  service  to  those  who  wish  to 

i 


ii  INTRODUCTION 

perfect  the  machinery  of  the  household.  In 
this  book,  it  is  my  aim  to  show  that  charm  in 
the  home  is  quite  as  important  as  efficiency, 
and  that  one  need  not  be  obtained  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  other. 

So  many  efficiency  experts  have  minds  that 
think  in  terms  of  proteids  and  calories,  steps 
and  hand  movements,  dollars  and  cents,  with- 
out including  the  very  important  terms  of 
color,  form,  and  charming  arrangement. 
Other  writers  on  the  subject  of  Interior  Deco- 
rating go  to  the  other  extreme,  and  write  in 
terms  of  color,  form  and  arrangement  exclu- 
sively. 

I  was  immensely  amused,  when  reading 
Elsie  DeWolfe's  delightful  and  valuable  book, 
"The  House  in  Good  Taste,"  to  come  upon 
this  naive  ending  to  her  chapter  on  "Small 
Apartments":  "As  for  the  kitchen — ^that  is 
another  story.  It  is  impossible  to  go  into  that 
subject.  And  anyway  you  will  find  the  es- 
sentials supplied  for  you  by  the  landlord. 
You  won't  need  my  advice  when  you  need  a 
broom  or  a  coffee-pot  or  a  sauce-pan — you'll 
go  buy  it."  It  is  very  evident  that  her  book 
was  not  meant  for  the  vast  majority  of  women, 
who  not  only  do  their  own  decorating,  but 


INTRODUCTION  iii 

their  housework  as  well.  Since  this  book  of 
mine  is  meant  primarily  for  people  of  mod- 
erate means,  instead  of  ignoring  the  kitchen,  I 
go  so  far  as  to  urge  every  woman  to  see  to  it 
that  an  attractive,  convenient  kitchen  comes 
first  in  the  equipment  of  the  home  of  which 
she  is  high  priestess,  performing  each  day  the 
solemn  rite  of  preparing  the  food  which  is  to 
insure  the  health  of  those  most  dear  to  her. 

I  can  hear  skeptical  readers  say:  "That 
may  be  all  very  well  for  the  woman  who  does 
her  own  work,  but  what  would  happen  to  a 
pretty  kitchen  with  the  average  maid  in  it?" 
This  is  what  would  probably  happen:  The 
average  maid  when  first  introduced  to  a 
kitchen  that  is  "the  prettiest  room  in  the 
house"  is  apt  to  look  rather  glum.  She  does 
not  feel  altogether  at  home  in  it  at  first,  for 
she  is  used  to  spending  her  time  in  a  dark  room 
with  ugly  utensils,  where  nothing  matters  so 
long  as  she  does  certain  routine  things  in  an 
indifferent  sort  of  way.  By  the  end  of  a  week 
in  my  kitchen  a  maid  has  developed  a  pride 
in  her  surroundings:  because  things  are 
"pretty"  she  takes  better  care  of  them:  be- 
cause they  are  arranged  conveniently  she  fin- 
ishes her  work  more  quickly  and  is  eager  to 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

dress  for  the  afternoon  and  be  back  again  in 
her  pretty  room  to  read,  sew,  write  letters  or 
entertain  her  friends.  She  is  never  ashamed 
to  take  her  friends  into  my  kitchen  and  I  am 
never  ashamed  to  take  my  friends  into  hers. 

It  may  be  too  much  to  hope  that  within  the 
present  generation  one  may  go  at  random  into 
people's  houses  and  find  that  the  fundamental 
principles  of  decorating  have  been  observed, 
but  the  prospect  is  encouraging,  now  that  the 
common  schools  are  giving  attention  to  these 
things,  and  art  students  are  more  and  more  en- 
tering the  field  of  interior  decoration. 

The  greatest  scope  of  improvement  in  do- 
mestic art  lies  with  people  of  moderate  means. 
They  are  the  ones  who  are  most  eager  for 
education,  particularly  along  lines  that  will 
help  them  to  make  what  little  money  they  have 
go  as  far  as  possible.  In  order  to  have  even 
the  really  essential  things,  it  is  necessary  to 
make  sacrifices,  so  they  cannot  afford  to  make 
mistakes.  They  are  therefore  less  apt  than 
are  rich  people  to  fill  their  houses  with  in- 
harmonious and  undesirable  things. 

Almost  every  house  needs  an  overhauling 
several  times  a  year  to  prevent  an  accumula- 
tion   of   unnecessary   things.     Fewer   rather 


INTRODUCTION  v 

than  more  things  are  needed  in  most  houses, 
and  fortunate  is  the  person  who  has  the  gift 
of  being  able  to  look  at  a  room  in  his  own 
house  in  a  detached  way,  and  with  a  fresh  and 
critical  eye  decide  what  may  be  eliminated  or 
so  changed  as  to  be  more  useful  or  more  beau- 
tiful. 

The  best  decorators  know  the  value  of  space 
and  color  as  opposed  to  meaningless  things,  so 
that  the  test  of  an  effective  home,  from  the 
present  high  standard  of  decorating,  is  not 
how  much  it  contains  but  how  little. 

Part  I  of  this  book  is  a  narrative  of  personal 
experiences  in  home-making,  which  fitted  me 
for  the  editorial  work  explained  in  Part  II. 

Acknowledgment  is  due  to  The  Curtis 
Publishing  Company,  for  permission  to  re- 
print in  this  volume  material  which  has  already 
been  used  by  The  Ladies*  Home  Journal. 

Lilian  Bayliss  Green. 

New  Yoek,  September,  1916. 


PART  ONE 


THE 
EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

CHAPTER  I 

Teaining  the  Child's  Sense  of  Beauty 

AT  the  age  of  three,  I  was  one  day  dis- 
covered pasting  the  colored  picture  of  a 
lion  to  the  leg  of  the  piano.  When  my  mother 
asked  me  why  I  was  doing  that,  I  said  I  was 
"decowating."  That  is  the  only  one  of  my 
childish  remarks  that  was  ever  remembered, 
and  that  one  probably  because  my  whole  life 
has  been  spent  in  decorating  one  thing  or  an- 
other, usually  small  houses.  First  came  paper 
doll-houses,  furnished  with  enchanting  *'sets" 
that  a  clever  older  cousin  used  to  cut  for  us  out 
of  rather  stiff  paper.  In  time  we  were  able  to 
cut  for  ourselves,  and  it  has  just  occurred  to 
me  that  an  older  person  could  very  easily  teach 
children  to  make  their  paper  furniture  after 
designs  of  the  different  "periods,"  thus  famil- 


THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


iarizing  them  at  an  early  age  with  what  is  really 
the  best  in  house  furnishings. 

The  house  in  which  I  was  born,  though  out 
in  Ohio,  looked  as  if  it  belonged  in  some  New 
England  village,  for  it  was  Colonial  in  design 
and  painted  white,  with  green  shutters.  Low 
and  rambling,  with  broad  gabled  roofs  and  pil- 


■1        t  "A 

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Li     Gkapi  Aii*o»         I 


(l^^ife;FlHltfr-;-rr 


l'-:--^Z^:::.-.  -.-,t' 


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iRoses 


A  Colonial  homestead  whose  gardens  carry  out  the  motif  of  the 
architect  and  express  the  owner's  personality 

lared  porches,  it  stood  in  the  center  of  a  large 
yard  full  of  shrubs  and  trees. 

My  mother  had  one  side  of  the  yard  planted 
with  sod  brought  from  the  woods,  so  that  in  the 
spring  it  was  a  mass  of  pale  pink  spring  beau- 
ties, with  violets  and  anemones  showing  here 
and  there.    Besides  the  rose  garden,  the  bed 


TRAINING  THE  SENSE  OF  BEAUTY     5 

of  perennials,  and  the  row  of  poet's  narcissus 
and  jonquils  that  blossomed  each  spring  at  the 
foot  of  a  terrace,  I  remember  vividly  the  cool, 
shady  rockery:  a  fairyland  to  a  small  child, 
filled  as  it  was  with  lilies  of  the  valley,  colum- 
bines, day  lilies,  maidenhair  fern,  jack-in-the- 
pulpits,  and  other  woodsy  things  that  made  the 
setting  for  many  a  flight  of  a  childish  imagina- 
tion. 

My  mother's  garden  was  very  expressive  of 
her  personality,  but  when  she  furnished  the  in- 
side of  the  house,  instead  of  carrying  the  simple 
charm  of  the  architect's  idea  into  the  furnish- 
ings, as  would  have  been  done  in  New  Eng- 
land, she  was  influenced  as  so  many  brides  are 
by  the  fashions  of  the  day,  so  the  rest  of  her 
life  had  to  be  spent  with  mid- Victorian  furni- 
ture covered  with  black  haircloth,  lace  cur- 
tains, oil  paintings  in  heavy  gilt  frames,  fig- 
ured Brussels  carpets,  black  marble  mantels, 
stereotyped  bric-a-brac,  and  white  and  gold 
china.  Fortunately  for  us  children,  my 
mother's  buoyant,  happy  nature  and  her  music 
with  which  she  enKvened  the  house  did  much 
to  counteract  the  gloom  of  the  furnishings,  and 
made  it  homelike  in  spite  of  them. 

An  influence  even  then  at  work  in  forming 


6         THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

my  taste,  were  the  pictures  by  Kate  Green- 
away  and  Walter  Crane  with  which  my  father 
kept  me  supplied.  Unconsciously  I  preferred 
their  cheerful  pleasant  rooms,  the  colors,  simple 
furnishings,  gay  chintz  curtains,  plain  walls 
and  symmetrical  arrangement  of  which,  all  ap- 
pealed to  me  and  made  me  love  their  books. 
That  influence  has  lasted  all  through  my  hfe, 
and  I  have  always  preferred  a  small  pictur- 
esque house  to  a  large  pretentious  one. 

A  part  of  the  old  house  was  torn  down  many 
years  ago,  but  the  main  part  has  been  restored 
and  is  now  occupied  by  a  woman  of  taste,  who, 
recognizing  the  possibilities  of  the  house,  has 
done  things  to  it  that  have  completely  trans- 
formed the  interior.  The  ugly  grained  wood- 
work in  the  hall  has  been  painted  a  cream 
white,  which  brings  out  detail  that  was  quite 
lost  before.  On  the  walls  is  a  landscape  paper 
in  tones  of  gray  and  gray-green,  making  the 
hall  seem  much  wider  than  when  it  had  dark 
paper  on  the  walls. 

When  I  was  recently  taken  into  our  old 
"parlor"  it  was  difficult  to  reahze  that  in  the 
center  of  this  very  room  had  once  stood  the 
marble-topped  table  that  held  a  vase  of  wax 
flowers  covered  with  a  glass  globe.    Not  a 


The  coloring  ana  general  character  of  tins  tnglisii  stucco 
house  are  carried  into  the  treatment  of  the  interior 


The  main  part  of  the  Colonial  house  the  plan  of 
which  is  shown  on  page  seven 


An  ugly  room  transformed  by  changing  the  walls  from  red 
to  white 


A  sunny  room  with  mahogany  furniture  admits  of  plain 
gray  walls 


TRAINING  THE  SENSE  OF  BEAUTY     7 


vestige  of  mid- Victorian  ugliness  remains,  al- 
though the  mantel  is  the  same  one  of  black 
marble  that  has  always  been  there.  The  floors 
and  woodwork  have  been  painted  black  to  har- 
monize with  the  mantel,  the  piano  too  is  black, 
but  the  rest  of  the  furniture  is  all  Colonial,  the 
sofas  and  chairs  having  slip  covers  of  glazed 

S 


1' 

: 

1 


JBa- 


^^:&w 


LlVlTfO 

I    Kocat 


PopcK 


D 


TS.ITCHBN 


L--°ao^o^^^ 


The  main  section  of  the  Colonial  house  after  restoration 

chintz  for  summer  use  in  a  fascinating  design 
of  birds  and  flowers.  The  walls  are  plain 
cream  color  paneled,  the  hangings  and  lamp 
shades  are  of  rose  color  to  harmonize  with  the 
principal  tone  in  the  rugs.  A  few  really  good 
old  portraits  in  dull  gold  frames  are  the  only 
wall  decoration,  but  jars  of  flowers  about  the 
room,  and  glimpses  of  neighboring  gardens 


8         THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

through  the  windows,  prevent  the  effect  from 
being  too  restrained.  The  old  center  chande- 
lier has  been  removed,  and  at  night  lighted  by 
candles  and  lamps,  the  room  is  one  of  the 
pleasantest  living-rooms  I  have  ever  seen.  It 
was  hke  having  a  dream  come  true. 

I  was  the  youngest  of  five  children,  and  the 
only  girl.  When  I  was  seven  years  old  my 
mother  died  and  I  was  taken  to  spend  several 
weeks  with  my  grandmother.  The  night  I 
came  home  from  my  visit,  my  father  took  me 
by  the  hand  and  led  me  down  the  hall  past  the 
"arch  room'*  where  my  mother  had  slept  and 
where  my  crib  had  always  stood,  on  to  what 
had  been  a  storeroom.  My  brothers  were  be- 
hind us  and  everything  was  very  mysterious. 
My  father  opened  the  door;  the  room  was 
brightly  lighted,  and  I  didn't  have  to  be  told 
that  this  was  "My  Room."  My  father  and 
brothers  had  planned  it  all  as  a  surprise  for  me, 
and  I  was  the  proudest  little  girl  in  the  world 
at  that  moment.  There  was  a  single  bed,  a 
little  chair,  a  small  chest  of  drawers  with  a 
mirror  above  it,  and  in  a  row  along  the  wall 
were  all  of  my  dolls,  one  of  them  asleep  in  a 
canopied  cradle  that  my  mother  had  fitted  up 
for  me.    It  must  have  been  a  very  ugly  little 


TRAINING  THE  SENSE  OF  BEAUTY     9 

room  when  analyzed  from  a  decorator's  point 
of  view,  for  the  wallpaper  was  dark  and  fig- 
ured, the  chintz  curtains  at  the  window  and 
closet  door  differed  in  design  from  the  walls, 
and  the  carpet  too  was  figured  with  a  design 
different  from  either  the  walls  or  the  chintz. 

I  had  to  play  alone  when  I  was  at  home, 
and  for  this  reason  I  suppose  I  always  loved 
the  chapter  called  "Patty  Pans"  in  "Little 
Men,"  for  I  had  great  sympathy  for  Daisy, 
not  only  because  the  boys  wouldn't  let  her  play 
with  them,  but  because  she  had  a  domestic  turn 
of  mind  similar  to  my  own.  Instead  of  the  , 
wonderful  game  of  "Patty  Pans"  that  Daisy 
had,  I  did  my  first  cooking  on  a  stove  that  I 
made  out  of  bricks  in  the  back  yard,  and  from 
those  days  of  burnt  fingers  and  smoky  concoc- 
tions, cooking  has  always  been  to  me  a  delight- 
ful exercise  of  the  imagination. 

From  the  time  I  was  eight  until  I  was 
twelve,  most  of  my  waking  hours  when  not  in 
school,  I  spent  with  little  girls  who  were  so 
fortunate  as  to  have  playhouses  out  of  doors. 

At  last  one  of  my  friends  was  allowed  to 
have  a  miniature  iron  range  in  her  playhouse, 
and  I  shall  never  forget  the  thrill  of  seeing  the 
steam  come  out  of  the  spout  of  the  tiny  tea- 


10       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

kettle,  and  the  fun  of  sitting  down  with  our 
dolls  to  wonderful  meals  prepared  on  that 
small  stove. 

This  is  the  age  at  which  the  simple  rudiments 
of  cooking  should  be  taught  to  children.  They 
are  enthusiastic  and  impressionable  and  so 
eager  to  learn  to  do  what  they  see  older  per- 
sons doing.  A  little  girl  of  five  and  six  may 
be  taught  to  coddle  an  egg,  make  junket,  cus- 
tard, soup  and  cocoa ;  in  fact,  many  of  her  own 
meals  she  may  easily  be  taught  to  prepare  for 
herself. 

The  same  thing  applies  to  other  branches  of 
housework,  and  a  little  time  spent  in  showing 
a  child  how  to  make  her  dolls'  beds  properly, 
how  to  sweep  and  dust  and  wash  dishes,  will  be 
time  well  spent,  for  the  lessons  will  never  be 
forgotten. 

In  my  early  teens  I  passed  through  the  stage 
that  nearly  all  young  persons  go  through; 
when  there  is  no  one  to  give  them  object  les- 
sons in  interior  decorating  as  applied  to  their 
own  rooms.  The  natural  inclination  at  this 
age  is  to  clutter  their  rooms  with  souvenirs  of 
all  kinds.  In  my  editorial  work,  I  was  con- 
stantly receiving  letters  from  girls  and  boys 
asking  me  what  to  do  with  their  collections  of 


TRAINING  THE  SENSE  OF  BEAUTY     11 

college  pennants.  I  had  to  tell  them  to  retain 
them  as  collections  but  to  keep  them  out  of 
sight.  From  the  fact  that  they  wrote  to  ask 
me  about  them,  I  knew  that  they  had  an  in- 
stinctive feeling  that  those  crude  colors  hung 
together  in  the  same  room  gave  anything  but  a 
pleasing  effect,  so  I  explained  that  pennants 
were  designed  to  be  used  in  masses  on  athletic 
fields,  and  used  in  that  way,  in  the  open,  they 
were  very  effective,  and  the  colors  had  to  be 
vivid  and  crude,  in  order  to  carry. 

At  seventeen  I  started  for  Vassar,  and 
throughout  my  four  years  of  college  life  I  con- 
fess that  the  decoration  of  my  rooms  was  of 
vastly  more  concern  to  me  than  my  scholarship. 
My  apparent  love  of  decorating  led  to  the  fre- 
quent demand  for  my  services  in  the  staging  of 
hall  plays  and  in  preparations  for  all  sorts  of 
festive  occasions.  I  was  put  on  the  committee 
for  decorating  our  senior  class  parlor,  and  as 
I  look  now  at  the  picture  of  that  room  I  am 
surprised  to  see  that  there  is  nothing  about  it 
that  has  not  stood  the  test  of  time.  The  one 
blot  is  a  drop  light  of  cut  glass,  suspended  from 
a  central  chandelier  by  a  satin  covered  tube. 
Fate  had  a  hand  in  removing  this  defect.  A 
distinguished  bishop  came  to  spend  a  half  hour 


12       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

in  the  senior  parlor  one  Sunday  after  service. 
Absorbed  in  a  good  story  that  he  was  telling  to 
a  group  of  the  girls,  he  inadvertently  leaned 
against  the  table  that  held  the  glass  lamp. 
The  floor  was  waxed;  the  table  tipped,  and 
down  went  the  bishop  amid  a  shower  of  glass. 
Only  his  dignity  was  hurt,  and  the  one  eyesore 
of  an  otherwise  lovely  room  had  been  removed. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Impossible  Type  of  Rented  House  and 

Things  That  May  Be  Done  to 

Impeove  It 

AFTER  leaving  college,  I  spent  several 
years  studying  art  in  New  York  and 
Paris;  at  the  end  of  that  time  I  went  west  to 
Hve,  in  order  to  be  near  my  family.  My 
brothers  were  all  married  and  my  father  was 
living  with  one  of  them,  so  I  decided  to  have  a 
studio  of  my  own.  In  an  apartment  house 
just  across  the  street  from  where  some  of  my 
family  lived  I  discovered  a  suite  of  rooms  with 
a  private  entrance.  It  had  been  designed  as  a 
doctor's  suite,  but  as  no  doctor  had  taken  it  the 
proprietor  was  glad  to  let  me  have  it  at  a  very 
low  rental. 

One  room  had  three  windows  to  the  north; 
just  the  light  I  needed  for  painting;  the  other 
was  a  larger  room  with  a  closet,  running  water, 
and  a  gas  grate.  The  walls  in  this  room  were 
covered  with  a  dark  green  paper  with  large 

13 


14       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


gold  figures.  In  the  studio  the  paper  was 
brown  with  red  and  green  figures.  No  wonder 
that  my  friends  thought  it  a  nightmare,  and 
tried  their  best  to  discourage  me,  but  I  knew 
that  the  essentials  were  there  and  that  chang- 
ing the  papers  alone  would  do  much  toward 
making  the  place  habitable.  This  the  landlord 
permitted  me  to  do,  allowing  me  twenty  cents 


batk  n 


IIivingR^oii 


)fD'DiO 


A  home  evolved  from  a  doctor's  offices 

a  roll  for  the  papers.  For  the  larger  room  I 
selected  a  grasscloth  paper  as  nearly  the  color 
of  the  pine  woodwork  as  possible.  For  the 
studio,  I  used  an  oyster  white  ingrain  paper. 
For  this  room  I  designed  most  of  the  furni- 
ture, and  had  it  made  by  an  ordinary  car- 
penter at  a  very  small  expense.  It  consisted 
of  a  long  narrow  table  with  four  little  benches 
to  match  it  exactly;  there  was  also  a  cupboard 


IMPROVING  THE  RENTED  HOUSE     15 


that  I  had  made  to  hang  across  an  unsightly 

window  of  ground  glass  that  was  in  the  center 

of  the  south  wall  leading  into  the  bathroom. 
This  cupboard 

and  set  of  shelves 

combined    served 

as  a  place  to  keep 

my  dishes,  and  it 

was  decorative  as 

well.        Directly 

under   it   I   had 

my    bed    couch. 

For  a  sideboard,  I  selected  a  common  kitchen 

table,  on  top  of  which  I  used  the  top  of  a 

kitchen  cabinet,  the  whole  giving  the  appear- 
ance of  a  small 
Welsh      dresser. 


< 

► 

» 

cupboard   built   to   cover  an   un- 
sightly partition 


rrrK-ffii^j: 


l» 


jJiJlIl 


L 


3  a 


E 


q=rcrr==rqpa 


\ 


All  of  this  furni- 
ture I  painted  a 
bluish  green,  and 
I  had  curtains  of 
denim      of      the 

Th«  bathroom  side  of  the  cupboard,  fmmf^      cVi«ir1*»       cr» 
used  as  a  supply  closet  ^o-uic      bllttut;,      bU 

hung  as  to  cover 
the  woodwork  as  much  as  possible.  The  lower 
sash  of  all  of  the  windows  was  covered  with 
filet  lace,  which  let  in  the  light  but  at  the  same 


16       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

time  acted  as  a  screen,  the  windows  being  on  a 
level  with  the  heads  of  passers-by. 

In  my  larger  room,  I  changed  the  hideous, 
mottled  tiles  of  the  mantel  to  harmonize  with 
the  yellow  walls  by  going  over  them  with  two 
rather  thick  coats  of  alabastine.  This,  being 
a  water  color  preparation,  is  easily  washed  off 
if  at  any  time  one  wishes  to  get  back  to  the 
original  color  of  the  tiles. 

My  landlord  also  gave  me  permission  to 
paint  the  metal  of  the  grate  and  chandeliers  a 
dull  black.  They  were  the  cheapest  sort  of 
finish :  imitation  copper  with  splashes  of  black. 
The  floors  in  both  rooms  I  painted  a  dark  gray- 
green.  In  my  larger  room  I  improvised  my 
first  kitchenette  by  having  a  shelf  on  the  level 
with  the  top  of  the  washstand  where  there  was 
running  water.  Around  it  I  had  a  screen  cov- 
ered with  denim  the  same  color  as  the  walls. 
A  few  small  rugs  on  the  floor,  chintz  curtains 
at  the  five  windows,  the  same  chintz  used  as 
cushions  for  the  chairs,  potted  plants  on  the 
window  sills,  a  few  pictures,  an  electric  lamp,  a 
table  and  a  really  beautiful  old  mahogany  desk 
that  I  had  years  before  picked  up  for  a  song 
down  in  Maryland,  completed  the  furnishings 
of  this  room. 


IMPROVING  THE  RENTED  HOUSE  17 

It  was  a  surprise  to  my  friends  when  they 
saw  what  a  complete  little  home  I  had  made 
for  myself  without  spending  much  of  anything 
except  thought  and  time.  One  of  them,  an 
unmarried  woman  who  had  spent  many  dreary 
hours  in  the  hall  bedroom  of  a  boarding-house, 
seeing  that  I  had  succeeded  in  removing  most 
of  the  horrors  from  spinsterhood,  proceeded  to 
hunt  a  similar  establishment  for  herself  where 
she  afterwards  had  independence,  comfort,  and 
real  happiness  without  spending  as  much 
money  as  it  had  cost  her  to  board.  Two  or 
three  young  women  can  live  together  in  this 
way  very  economically  and  have  a  wonderful 
time  doing  it. 

After  spending  three  years  in  this  little 
apartment,  I  was  married  and  went  to  live  in 
a  small  neighboring  town.  Houses  for  rent 
were  scarce,  but  one  day  when  out  by  myself 
I  discovered  a  little  white  house  with  green 
shutters  that  appealed  to  me  very  much.  It 
was  on  a  good  corner  and  faced  in  such  a  way 
that  all  the  rooms  were  sunny.  When  I  took 
my  husband  to  see  it,  he  was  not  in  the  least 
enthusiastic  about  it.  He  couldn't  see  any- 
thing except  the  wall  papers,  which  were  in- 
deed enough  to  give  one  "the  horrors."    He 


18       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

had  not  yet  had  sufficient  evidence  of  my  abil- 
ity to  make  a  home  "out  of  a  pine  cone"  to  be 
able  to  visualize  the  place  as  I  did  in  my  mind's 
eye,  but  when  convinced  of  my  genuine  satis- 
faction with  it  he  succumbed,  and  we  had  the 
things  sent  out  to  it  from  my  own  small  apart- 
ment. 

Except  bedroom  things,  we  put  all  the  f  umi- 


A   house   that  was  easily  made  livable 

ture  into  one  room,  the  walls  of  which  we  had 
changed  from  a  hideous  purphsh  red  to  a 
white  paper  with  an  indistinct  white  lattice  de- 
sign. The  woodwork  was  already  painted 
white,  so  the  green  curtains  and  furniture  from 
my  studio  looked  quite  as  if  designed  for  this 
room.  For  the  time  being,  we  kept  the  desk 
and  the  Canton  chairs  here  also,  which  with  the 
double  student  lamp,  our  first  wedding  pres- 
ent, made   for  us  a  very  comfortable  and 


IMPROVING  THE  RENTED  HOUSE     19 

attractive  combination  living-  and  dining- 
room. 

As  we  were  married  very  quietly,  we  were 
spared  the  usual  conventional  wedding  pres- 
ents. Those  who  really  wanted  to  give  us 
something  did  so  after  we  were  married,  letting 
us,  as  a  rule,  select  what  we  needed  to  conform 
to  what  we  already  had. 

Even  so  we  made  mistakes,  the  first  of  which 
was  in  the  selection  of  a  rug  for  our  dining- 
room. 

We  selected  a  very  pretty  Scotch  wool  rug 
in  a  shade  of  green  that  went  beautifully  with 
the  green  furniture,  but  we  soon  found  that  on 
account  of  the  plain  center  every  spot  and 
crumb  showed  on  it.  After  spending  much 
money  in  having  it  cleaned,  I  decided  that  a 
rug  with  a  small  indistinct  figure  was  the  only 
kind  to  have  in  a  dining-room. 

In  our  tiny  guest  room,  the  paper  of  which 
happened  to  be  white  with  a  design  of  a  single 
rosebud,  we  put  the  couch  that  had  been  in  the 
apartment.  My  new  sewing-machine  did  duty 
as  a  dressing  table  for  this  room  by  having 
a  board  cut  to  fit  the  top  of  it.  To  this 
board  I  tacked  a  valance,  above  the  board  on 
the  wall  I  hung  a  mirror  with  a  white  frame. 


20       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

and  in  front  of  this  dressing  table  stood  a 
spindle-backed  chair  also  painted  white.  A 
rug  and  some  simple  curtains  completed  this 
room. 

From  our  next  purchase  I  also  learned  a 
valuable  lesson  which  I  here  pass  along  to  the 
inexperienced  housewife.  We  allowed  our- 
selves to  be  persuaded  that  a  felt  mattress  of 
good  make,  with  woven  wire  springs,  made  an 
excellent  bed.  Even  this  combination  is  ex- 
pensive, but  after  a  year  or  so  of  use  it  is  most 
unsatisfactory.  The  springs  sag  and  the  felt 
gets  hard  in  the  center.  Certainly,  the  mat- 
tress and  springs  of  the  bed  upon  which  one 
spends  a  third  of  one's  life  are  of  first  impor- 
tance in  furnishing  a  house.  The  best  is  none 
too  good,  and  the  best  bed,  to  my  mind,  is  one 
with  an  upholstered  box  spring,  and  a  mattress 
made  of  hard  black  South  American  horsehair. 
This  is  a  good  investment,  for  although  the 
mattress  must  be  renovated  from  time  to  time, 
the  same  hair  is  always  good.  If  it  is  neces- 
sary to  practice  economy,  let  it  be  in  regard  to 
the  bedstead,  rather  than  to  the  mattress  and 
springs. 

Our  living-room  we  left  perfectly  bare  for 
a  while,  but  at  length  we  had  on  hand  a  collec- 


IMPROVING  THE  RENTED  HOUSE     21 

tion  of  really  choice  things,  all  of  them  suit- 
able companions  for  the  old  desk  which  was  om* 
starting  point  in  the  equipment  of  this  room. 
One  day  on  our  way  out  to  the  club  to  play 
golf,  we  stopped  at  the  paper  hanger's  and 
looked  over  his  rather  limited  supply  of 
samples.  We  found  a  light  gray  fabric  paper 
that  we  both  felt  would  be  lovely  in  our  simny 
room  with  the  mahogany  furniture.  The  man 
said  he  was  not  busy  that  afternoon,  so  we  gave 
him  the  key  to  the  house  and  when  we  returned 
home  that  night  our  living-room  had  doubled 
in  size.  The  dark  ohve  green  paper  with  huge 
figures  that  looked  hke  crawling  crabs  was 
gone,  and  in  its  place  this  plain  gray  paper  ef- 
fected a  most  astonishing  transformation,  and 
even  my  husband  in  spite  of  his  doubts  in  the 
beginning  had  to  admit  that  the  house  was  all 
that  I  had  dreamed.  He  helped  me  then  and 
there  to  arrange  the  rugs  and  furnitiu'e,  and 
I  lost  no  time  in  getting  up  the  chintz  curtains, 
so  that  that  very  evening  we  used  this  room  for 
the  first  time  and  decided  that  it  had  been  well 
worth  waiting  for. 

In  less  than  a  year  from  this  time  a  promo- 
tion in  my  husband's  business  took  us  to  an- 
other town  to  live.    We  hated  to  leave  the 


22       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

pretty  house  where  our  first  happy  months  had 
been  spent,  but  we  had  to  go,  and  once  more  be- 
gan the  hunt  for  a  house. 

We  chose  one  at  length  because  of  its  loca- 
tion. It  faced  a  very  pretty  park,  and  certain 
important  rooms  got  the  sun.  To  most  people 
it  would  have  seemed  palatial  compared  with 
my  own  little  apartment  or  with  the  little  house 
we  had  just  left,  because  this  house  had  hard- 
wood floors  and  "oak  trim."  That  "oak  trim" 
was  my  greatest  objection  to  it,  for  nothing 
could  be  worse  as  a  setting  for  mahogany  furni- 
ture. In  the  dining-room  we  continued  to  use 
our  green  furniture  with  white  walls  and  the 
green  curtains,  but  the  main  room  of  the  house, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  used  as  a  living- 
room,  we  called  ironically  "the  sun  parlor"  be- 
cause no  ray  of  sunlight  ever  entered  it.  In 
addition  to  that  fact  it  had  been  papered  with 
dark  green  expensive  paper  which  the  landlord 
refused  to  change.  Rather  than  assume  that 
expense  ourselves,  not  knowing  how  long  we 
should  be  in  the  house,  we  made  the  most  of  the 
other  room  on  the  first  floor,  by  doing  it  in  a 
color  scheme  of  browns  and  tones  of  yellow,  so 
as  to  forget  the  ugly  oak  woodwork  as  much  as 
possible.     The  walls  were  a  golden  brown  car- 


IMPROVING  THE  RENTED  HOUSE     23 

tridge  paper,  so  I  got  hangings  of  sunf  ast  ma- 
terial to  match  the  walls.  The  mottled  blue 
and  yellow  tiles  I  got  rid  of  by  covering 
them  with  cream-colored  alabastine.  Several 
willow  chairs,  flowers,  pictures  in  tones  of 
brown  and  gold,  and  ornaments  of  brass,  made 
of  this  a  room  suitable  to  use  in  receiving 
casual  acquaintances,  but  our  real  living-room 
was  upstairs.  In  the  front  of  the  house  over- 
looking the  park,  and  getting  the  sun  nearly  all 
day  was  a  really  pretty  room  with  white  wood- 
work. It  was  meant  for  a  bedroom  of  course, 
but  we  had  enough  bedrooms  without  it,  so  we 
had  gray  paper  put  on  the  walls,  and  in  it  we 
used  all  of  our  choicest  things.  It  was  an  un- 
conventional thing  to  do,  I  admit,  and  we  took 
evil  delight  one  day  when  a  very  conventional 
friend  called  on  us,  in  showing  him  the  "sun 
parlor"  and  then  making  him  come  upstairs  to 
our  living-room.  He  simply  looked  bewil- 
dered, and  went  away  thinking  we  were 
"queer." 

We  may  have  been  queer,  but  to  show  that 
we  had  also  been  wise  in  not  even  trying  to 
transform  that  dark  grotto  of  a  room  at  our 
own  expense,  in  the  course  of  another  year  we 
found  ourselves  living  in  Boston. 


CHAPTER  III 
A  Practical  Plan  for  the  Newly  Maeeied 

WITH  eggs  at  sixty  cents  a  dozen,  butter 
fifty  cents  a  pound,  and  rents  propor- 
tionately high,  and  with  no  hope  that  they 
will  be  any  lower,  is  it  strange  that  the  young 
man  who  earns  a  moderate  salary  should  look 
upon  establishing  a  home  of  his  own  as  a 
formidable  undertaking?  What  is  to  be  done 
about  it?  Are  young  people  going  to  continue 
to  enter  upon  long  engagements  and  live  in 
that  unnatural  state  imtil  enough  money  can  be 
saved  to  start  housekeeping  in  the  conventional 
way?  Or  are  they  going  to  start  out  in  their 
life  together  on  a  very  small  scale,  regardless 
of  what  their  more  fortunate  or  less  sensible 
friends  are  doing?  I  think  I  have  found  a 
solution  to  this  problem,  but  it  applies  only  to 
those  who  care  more  for  one  another  than  they 
care  for  unenlightened  public  opinion. 

The  girl  must  be  willing  to  do  a  certain 
amount  of  housework  each  day.     She  will  have 

24 


PRACTICAL  HOUSEKEEPING  25 

to  use  her  head,  her  heart  and  her  hands,  hut 
by  following  my  plan  she  will  avoid  the  count- 
less pitfalls  which  her  friends  who  start  out 
with  false  standards  are  sure  to  encounter. 
The  solution  I  have  to  offer  was  arrived  at 
quite  by  accident,  as  many  good  things  are. 

Being  perfect  strangers  in  Boston  we  de- 
cided to  spend  a  year  looking  for  a  place  to 
build  our  permanent  home.  Meanwhile  we 
wanted  our  time  to  be  as  free  as  possible,  so 
we  took  an  apartment  of  two  rooms  and  bath 
in  a  desirable  neighborhood.  Although  we 
were  given  housekeeping  privileges  we  started 
by  having  all  but  our  breakfast  out.  Little  by 
little  we  took  more  and  more  of  our  meals  in 
our  tiny  dining-room,  and  when  our  year  was 
up  we  were  too  comfortably  established  to  de- 
sire anything  better  for  some  time  to  come. 
We  were  regularly  keeping  house  in  the  two 
rooms  which  a  year  before  we  had  looked  upon 
as  merely  a  temporary  expedient. 

The  plan  of  the  Uttle  apartment  shows  that 
we  had  plenty  of  light  and  ventilation;  good 
closets  and  an  open  fireplace.  Of  our  furni- 
ture two  single  beds,  three  comfortable  chairs, 
a  roomy  table  and  a  double  student  lamp  were 
the  essentials.    It  is,  of  course,  important  to 


26       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL'  HOME 

have  plenty  of  drawer  space,  but  if  it  is  possible 
to  combine  several  pieces  of  furniture  in  one  so 
much  the  better.  This  we  did  by  using  a  sec- 
retary, which  is  not  only  a  very  attractive  piece 
of  furniture  but  is  also  bookcase,  desk  and  chest 
of  drawers  all  in  one.     Balancing  it  in  color 


Designs  that  show  what  can  be  accomplished  with  two  rooms 
and  a  bath 

and  shape  I  had  another  chest  of  drawers  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  fireplace,  and  still  an- 
other combination  desk  and  chest  of  drawers 
against  the  north  wall.  This  provided  a  place 
for  each  of  us  to  write  and  keep  personal  be- 
longings. 

Against  the  east  wall  between  the  two  deep- 
set  windows  we  had  our  long,  narrow  green 
table,  a  winged  chair  at  either  end,  so  placed 
as  to  get  the  best  light  from  the  windows  in 
the  daytime,  and  from  the  lamp  in  the  center 
of  the  table  at  night. 

Just  opposite  the  table  on  the  west  wall  were 


PRACTICAL  HOUSEKEEPING  27 

our  two  beds  one  above  the  other  in  the  day- 
time, the  lower  one  being  drawn  out  into  the 
room  at  night.  The  wooden  frame  painted 
green,  the  green  cover  and  valance  that  were 
used,  gave  the  appearance  of  what  has  come 
to  be  called  a  "day  bed." 

Two  wicker  chairs,  another  large,  winged 
chair,  with  green  Scotch  rug,  filet  lace  cur- 
tains drawn  tight  across  the  window,  and  wash- 
able chintz  overhanging  that  served  us  in  our 
other  houses,  completed  the  furnishings  of  this 
combination  living-  and  sleeping-room. 

As  the  plan  shows,  the  other  room  was  small 
and  of  very  awkward  shape.  We  had  it  pa- 
pered in  a  striped  white  paper,  that  being  the 
background  for  which  our  green  furniture  was 
originally  designed.  Our  landlord  had  a  small 
sink  put  into  one  corner,  having  it  built  high, 
at  my  request,  so  that  I  need  not  stoop  over 
when  washing  dishes.  A  few  shelves  and  a 
two-burner  gas  stove  with  an  adjustable  oven 
completed  our  kitchen  equipment. 

Up  to  this  time,  although  I  had  been  inter- 
ested in  cooking,  I  had  never  given  the  conven- 
ient arrangement  of  my  kitchen  any  special 
thought.     In  our  other  two  houses  we  had  had 


28        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

the  regulation  kitchens,  which  I  took  as  a 
matter  of  course.  As  I  think  of  them  now, 
they  were  too  large  and  most  inconvenient. 
As  I  always  kept  a  maid,  I  had  not  noticed  the 
unnecessary  steps  that  had  to  be  taken  in  the 
course  of  a  day.  Here  in  this  tiny  apartment, 
I  was  therefore  confronted  with  an  entirely 
new  problem,  which  brought  all  of  my  powers 
of  invention  into  play :  how  to  make  a  complete 
kitchen  in  a  space  that  could  not  measure  more 
than  thirty  by  forty  inches  outside  the  stove 
and  sink.  This  kitchen  went  through  many 
stages  during  the  next  few  years,  but  in  the 
end  it  approached  perfection.  I  started  out 
with  a  two-plate  gas-stove  with  an  adjustable 
oven,  which  did  very  well  for  "light-house- 
keeping," but  was  inconvenient  when  we  found 
ourselves  having  all  of  our  meals  at  home.  I 
also  started  without  an  ice-chest,  but  ended  by 
getting  one  about  a  yard  long  with  a  flat  top. 
This  served  as  a  table  under  the  plate  rack  that 
hung  on  the  wall  midway  between  the  kitchen 
and  dining-room  end  of  this  small,  odd-shaped 
room.  To  match  the  rest  of  the  furniture,  I 
painted  the  ice-chest  a  blue  green,  and  thus 
transformed  a  commercial  object  of  grained 
brown  paint  into  an  ornamental  piece  of  fur- 


Note  the  shelf  beside  the  stove  and  the  telephone  beyon 


The  sink  and  stove  are  placed  to  receive  the  best  light 


.^1 


rrm 


f 


^ 


J5  ^M  ^_ 


The  two  sides  of  a  buffet  that  serves  as  a  screen  between  the 
dining-room  and  kitchen  ends  of  the  same  room 


PRACTICAL  HOUSEKEEPING  29 

niture,  that  fitted  into  the  general  scheme  of 
the  room. 

The  space  measuring  thirty  hy  forty  inches 
was  inclosed  on  one  side  by  a  high  green  kitchen 
cabinet,  which  acted  as  a  screen  between  the 
kitchen  and  dining-room  and  afforded  a 
shelf  and  a  space  on  the  kitchen  side  for  hang- 
ing the  nmnerous  cooking  utensils.  The 
fourth  side  of  the  minute  kitchen  was  formed 
by  a  chiffonier,  also  painted  green.  On  top 
of  it  stood  all  the  plates  and  bowls  I  used. 
The  back  I  had  painted  white,  and  on  it  hung 
my  matchbox,  aprons  and  holders;  under  it 
stood  my  white  enameled  bread-box.  The 
drawers  were  used  for  linen,  drug  supplies, 
tools,  papers,  etc. 

Under  the  sink  a  galvanized  pail  acted  as 
kitchen  waste  basket,  except  on  cleaning  days, 
when  it  did  duty  as  scrub-bucket.  Then  there 
was  a  small  garbage  can  into  which  I  fitted 
a  newspaper  every  morning.  As  the  can  was 
emptied  each  night  by  the  janitor  and  boiled 
out  each  week  with  soda,  it  never  smelled 
badly,  and  having  it  so  near  saved  many  steps. 
Over  the  sink  white  canisters  contained  sugar, 
flour  for  sauces,  coffee,  tea  and  salt.  Season- 
ings stood  on  a  tiny  shelf  near  the  stove.     Gov- 


30       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

ered  canisters  on  the  shelves  contained  cereals 
and  flour.  So  it  was  possible  for  me  to  pre- 
pare a  meal  without  moving  from  one  spot, 
and  to  put  it  steaming  hot  on  our  dining-table 
less  than  four  feet  away  in  the  same  room. 

The  reason  this  all  appealed  to  me  very 
strongly  is  because  in  doing  my  own  cooking, 
which  I  love  to  do,  I  may  have  all  sorts  of  at- 
tractive cooking  utensils. 

As  there  was  an  excellent  bakery  near  by 
where  they  made  delicious  whole-wheat  bread, 
and  dehvered  French  rolls  and  English  muffins 
in  time  for  breakfast,  there  was  no  need  to  do 
any  baking.  But  aside  from  these  articles  I 
did  every  bit  of  my  own  cooking,  using  very 
little  canned  food,  but  all  the  year  round 
fresh,  green  vegetables,  fresh  meat,  eggs,  ce- 
reals and  fish.  Fish  was  impossible  until  I 
adopted  paper-bag  cooking;  after  that  we 
often  had  it,  and  it  was  impossible  to  detect 
any  odor  from  it  while  it  was  cooking. 

It  was  better  to  plan  simple  meals ;  but  that 
did  not  do  away  with  having  guests,  preferably 
one  or  two  at  a  time.  We  had  guests  very 
often,  and  they  seemed  to  enjoy  getting  away 
from  their  stereotyped  routine  and  always 
seemed  to  envy  us  our  cozy  little  place. 


PRACTICAL  HOUSEKEEPING  31 

All  the  rest  of  our  miniature  establishment 
was  easily  managed.  The  good  strong  woman 
who  did  our  laundry  work  came  in  two  morn- 
ings each  week,  her  duties  being  to  keep  the 
floors,  windows  and  bathroom  clean.  She 
changed  the  beds,  polished  all  of  the  brass, 
copper  and  silver,  boiled  out  the  garbage  pail, 
and  cleaned  the  enameled  sink  and  the  zinc 
under  the  stove.  The  floor  of  the  smaller  room 
was  scrubbed  twice  a  week,  so  it  was  always 
immaculate.  All  of  this,  including  the  laun- 
dry work,  was  done  for  a  fixed  and  very  rea- 
sonable price  each  week. 

My  own  part  of  the  work  took  about  two 
hours  each  day.  While  we  were  eating  break- 
fast the  beds  were  airing.  After  the  dishes 
were  washed  I  made  the  beds  and  arranged  the 
room  so  that  it  became  a  living-room  once  more, 
with  no  suggestion  of  a  sleeping-room  about 
it.  I  then  filled  the  lamp,  did  the  dusting,  made 
out  menus  for  the  day,  did  any  ordering  that 
was  necessary — and  my  housework  was  done, 
except  the  preparation  for  our  two  simple 
meals,  which  took  but  very  little  time.  The 
rest  of  the  day  I  had  with  a  perfectly  free  mind 
for  occupations  that  had  no  connection  what- 
ever with  housework. 


82       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

There  are  certain  temperamental  requisites 
for  successfully  living  in  this  small  way. 
There  must  be  a  desire  on  both  sides  for  sim- 
plicity and  for  order.  It  must  also  be  borne 
well  in  mind  that  a  home  of  two  rooms  is  no 
place  for  unpleasant  moods,  so  they  may  not 
frequently  be  indulged  in. 

On  the  other  hand,  housekeeping  in  minia- 
ture for  at  least  the  first  year  of  married  life 
has  tremendous  value  as  a  preparation  for 
housekeeping  on  a  larger  scale.  It  is  a  period 
in  which  two  persons  may  gradually  learn  to 
cooperate  in  keeping  accounts  and  in  develop- 
ing a  system  of  management  for  use  all  through 
their  lives. 

The  single  fact  of  having  such  a  limited 
amount  of  room  teaches  the  futility  of  accumu- 
lating unnecessary  things.  All  articles  stored 
away  should  be  carefully  listed  and  filed  for 
reference  in  case  of  urgent  need.  One  gets  to 
hate  the  sight  of  useless  objects  about  a  room, 
for  they  only  add  to  one's  care  without  con- 
tributing either  to  beauty  or  comfort.  Then, 
too,  there  is  nothing  like  doing  one's  work  for 
a  time,  to  help  one  later  in  planning  work  for 
servants.     One  comes  to  know  how  long  it 


PRACTICAL  HOUSEKEEPING  33 

takes  to  do  things  thoroughly  and  avoids  ex- 
acting of  a  maid  more  than  she  can  do. 

On  the  whole  I  feel  sure  that  young  people 
starting  out  in  this  way  will  always  have  rea- 
son to  look  back  with  delight  to  their  first  ex- 
perimental year  together,  particularly  if  they 
have  spent  it  in  planning  what  they  really  want 
their  permanent  home  to  be,  in  developing 
their  tastes  and  ideals  and  in  establishing  their 
individuality,  instead  of  drifting  along  with 
the  current  and  being  like  everybody  else. 

It  was  while  we  were  living  in  this  small 
apartment  that  Mr.  Bok,  the  editor  of  the 
Ladies'  Home  Journal,  came  to  see  us.  He 
had  heard  that  I  had  a  genius  for  making  a 
complete  home  on  the  smallest  possible  scale, 
so  he  came  to  see  for  himself.  When  I  had 
showed  him  everything,  ending  with  my  little 
kitchen,  he  laughed  and  said,  "  Well,  if  you 
can  do  this  for  yourselves,  you  are  just  the  one 
to  do  the  same  sort  of  thing  for  the  hundreds 
of  women  who  write  to  us  for  advice."  Thus 
began  my  editorial  experience,  practically  from 
that  moment. 


CHAPTER  IV 

How  I  FUENISHED  OuR  NeW  HoUSE 

FOR  four  years  my  husband  and  I  lived 
very  comfortably  in  this  apartment.  We 
Hked  it  in  the  winter,  but  as  soon  as  spring 
was  in  the  air  we  longed  for  a  garden.  All 
of  our  holidays  were  spent  in  search  of  the 
right  place  to  build  an  all-the-year  home,  and 
many  evenings  in  making  plans  for  a  house 
which  we  wanted  simple,  comfortable,  con- 
venient, cheerful,  and  individual  and  to  face  so 
that  each  room  would  have  sunlight  at  some 
time  of  the  day. 

Just  a  year  ago,  in  answer  to  an  especially 
urgent  call  of  the  country,  we  seem  almost  to 
have  been  led  to  a  site  so  exactly  right  in  every 
way  as  to  admit  of  no  further  doubts.  We 
selected  an  architect  who  has  a  strong  feehng 
for  the  picturesque,  combined,  curiously 
enough,  with  an  abihty  for  planning  conven- 
iences. The  result  is  a  nine-roomed  house  of 
rough,  cream-colored  stucco,  distinctly  Eng- 

34 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       35 

lish  in  character,  with  its  long  sloping  roof 
lines,  built-in  chimneys  topped  by  red  chimney- 
pots, numerous  casement  windows  that  open 
outward,  and  others  with  bluish-green  shut- 
ters. The  outside  doors  and  the  gate,  which 
opens  through  a  stucco  wall,  are  also  painted 


I        EcBg 


DmnioRooM 


The  ground  plan  of  a  nine-roomed  suburban  home 

green,  while  the  paths,  the  little  front  stoop, 
and  the  floor  of  the  porch  which  opens  out  from 
the  living-room  are  all  of  ordinary  red  brick, 
which  repeats  the  red  of  the  chimney-pots.  All 
of  our  own  ideas  were  carefully  incorporated 
into  the  plans,  so  the  result  is  thoroughly  satis- 
factory to  us. 

I  have  described  the  general  character  of 
the  outside  of  the  house,  because  by  it  was  de- 


36        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

termined  in  a  large  measure  the  treatment  of 
the  interior.  For  example :  there  is  a  tiny  ves- 
tibule which  helps  to  keep  out  the  east  winds 
in  the  winter,  but  since  the  front  door  is  usually 
open  in  warm  weather  the  vestibule  is  made 
a  continuation  of  the  outside  of  the  house,  by 
having  walls,  ceiling  and  woodwork  painted 


The  second  floor  of  the  nine-roomed  house 

cream  white,  the  floor  being  tiled  with  bluish- 
green,  hexagonal  tiles  to  match  the  front  door 
as  nearly  as  possible.  This  vestibule  is  too 
small  to  contain  any  furniture,  but  as  a  wall 
decoration  there  is  a  Delia  Robbia  lunette  of 
brightly  colored  porcelain.  A  glass  door  sep- 
arates the  vestibule  from  the  hall,  and  as  a 
curtain  for  this  door  there  is  a  panel  of  cream- 
colored  crepe,  with  insertions  of  filet  lace. 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       37 

As  the  hall  in  our  house  is  merely  a  passage- 
way, not  a  room  in  which  one  ever  spends  much 
time,  we  decided  to  have  on  the  walls  a  decora- 
tive paper  in  a  Chinese  design  showing  wee 
islands  with  bluish-green  willow  trees,  tiny 
pagodas,  vases  of  flowers,  swimming  ducks 
and  flying  birds,  all  on  a  white  background 
shot  with  silver — the  gayest  little  design  im- 
aginable. There  are  enough  touches  of  black 
in  the  design  to  make  it  possible  to  have  the 
hand-rail  of  the  banisters,  the  lift-leaf  table, 
the  mirror  and  shadow-boxes  above  it,  as  well 
as  the  electric  fixtures,  all  in  black  lacquer. 

The  runners  in  the  lower  and  upper  halls 
are  alike;  of  a  Chinese  tile  design  of  darkest 
blue  on  a  neutral  ground.  The  large  case- 
ment window  halfway  up  the  stairs  has  cur- 
tains of  cream-colored  crepe  close  to  the  glass 
with  over-curtains  of  rose-colored,  sunf ast  ma- 
terial. On  the  ledge  of  this  window  there  is 
always  some  sort  of  plants  or  bulbs ;  the  white 
pottery  jar  that  stands  on  the  landing  of  the 
stairs  also  usually  contains  either  a  plant,  flow- 
ers, or  green  things  from  the  woods. 

The  woodwork  in  the  hall,  as  in  all  of  the 
downstairs  rooms,  is  painted  a  deep  cream 
color;  the  ceilings,  which  are  only  seven  and  a 


38        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

half  feet  high  all  through  the  house,  are  tinted 
a  cream  white.  The  floors  are  of  oak,  waxed 
and  polished. 

To  the  left  of  the  door  as  one  enters  the 
hall,  and  opening  from  it  by  a  pair  of  French 
doors,  is  the  living-room.  This  room  faces 
east,  south  and  west,  so  on  the  walls  I  have  used 
a  grayish-tan  fabric  paper  with  a  glint  of  gold 
in  it.  On  the  floor  there  are  only  two  oriental 
rugs  in  tones  of  deep  blue  and  rose  color. 
Close  to  the  glass  in  all  the  windows,  as  well 
as  at  the  French  doors  that  open  onto  the 
porch,  I  have  draw-curtains  of  thin  unbleached 
muslin,  edged  with  a  narrow  cream  fringe. 
The  over-curtains  are  of  a  rather  heavy  silky 
material  in  a  dull  grayish  rose  color,  which 
harmonizes  well  with  the  mahogany  furniture, 
and  the  dull  red  bricks,  and  hearth-tiles  of  the 
fireplace.  The  electric  fixtures,  andirons,  fire 
irons,  and  other  small  furnishings  of  this  room 
are  in  burnished  brass. 

A  feature  of  the  hving-room,  and  of  the 
other  rooms  of  our  house,  are  the  window 
shelves  for  plants,  which  we  had  made  for  all 
of  the  windows.  Nearly  all  of  these  shelves 
are  six  inches  wide,  but  in  the  bay  window  at 
the  east  end  of  the  living-room  the  shelf  is  much 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       39 

wider  than  this,  and  is  used  not  only  for  plants 
and  bulbs,  but  for  books  and  magazines  as  well. 
The  sun  pours  into  this  window  the  greater 
part  of  the  day,  so  we  have  two  large  winged 
chairs  here  with  their  backs  to  the  hght,  for 
daytime  reading.  Over  the  back  of  each  chair 
is  an  electric  side-wall  light,  so  that  one  may 
read  at  night  without  changing  the  position  of 
the  chairs. 

In  the  center  of  the  floor  is  a  plug  to  which 
is  attached  our  double  student  lamp,  in  which 
we  used  to  burn  oil.  Two  other  base  plugs  for 
lamps,  two  side  lights  besides  the  ones  in  the 
bay  window,  and  four  wall  sconces  holding 
twelve  wax  candles  make  it  possible  to  light 
the  room  brilliantly,  when  entertaining,  with- 
out the  use  of  center  ceiling  lights,  always  so 
unbecoming  and  so  undesirable  for  ordinary 
use. 

There  are  only  a  few  pictures  in  this  room, 
mainly  Japanese  prints  that  repeat  the  colors 
in  the  rugs  and  other  furnishings.  The  only 
piece  of  built-in  furniture  is  a  bookcase  extend- 
ing to  the  ceiling  and  occupying  a  space  that 
could  not  be  used  for  any  other  piece  of  furni- 
ture. The  open  shelves  bring  the  books  on 
the  level  of  the  eye,  thus  making  them  an  im- 


40       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

portant  part  of  the  decoration  of  the  room. 
Beneath  the  open  shelves  are  three  shelves  for 
magazines,  enclosed  by  drop  doors. 

The  two  pairs  of  French  doors  opening  into 
the  hall  and  dining-room  have  curtains  of 
cream-colored  crepe  gathered  between  rods 
placed  at  top  and  bottom  of  the  glass. 

THE  DINING-ROOM 

A  small  impressionist  painting  of  which  we 
are  very  fond  determined  the  treatment  of  our 
dining-room.  We  wanted  for  once  to  have  this 
picture  hung  alone  in  a  room,  and  as  a  living- 
room  cannot  be  too  restrained  in  treatment  we 
felt  that  the  dining-room  would  be  the  best 
place  to  have  it.  The  colors  in  the  picture  are 
tones  of  greenish  blue  and  cream  color,  with 
touches  of  rose,  so  as  a  background  for  it  we 
had  the  rough  plaster  of  the  walls  and  ceiling, 
the  woodwork,  as  well  as  the  moldings  set  on 
to  panel  the  wall  spaces  and  ceiling,  all  painted 
alike  with  many  coats  of  oil  paint  in  a  very 
deep  cream  color.  On  the  west  side  of  the 
room  there  are  three  casement  windows  to- 
gether, projecting  out  about  a  foot.  A  twelve- 
inch  shelf  placed  beneath  the  windows,  is  al- 
ways filled  with  plants  or  bulbs.    The  curtains 


This  symmetrical  arrangement  is  not  too  restrained  for  a 
dining-room 


Decorated  rag  rugs  and  French   prints  hung  iviili   ribbon 
add  color  to  this  room 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       41 

are  very  simple :  merely  two  side  strips  of  blu- 
ish-green smifast  material  joined  by  a  narrow 
valance  run  onto  the  same  rod  between  them. 
The  panels  at  either  side  of  the  windows  have 
as  a  decoration  strips  of  Chinese  embroidery 
mounted  on  bluish-green  gauze.  Some  of  this 
same  Chinese  silk  gauze  is  used  on  the  table 
between  meals,  with  a  centerpiece  of  fruit  or 
flowers.  Opposite  the  windows  is  a  pair  of 
French  doors  curtained  with  the  same  material 
as  the  window  hangings,  and  at  either  side  of 
them  is  a  small  shelf  holding  a  pot  of  English 
ivy  on  a  trellis.  The  furniture  of  this  room 
is  of  mahogany  in  the  Hepplewhite  design,  the 
shield-back  chairs  having  seats  covered  with 
bluish-green  leather.  The  four  side-wall  lights 
are  finished  in  silver  to  harmonize  with  the  old 
silver  service  which  ornaments  the  sideboard. 
Four  candles  in  silver  candlesticks  are  used  on 
the  table  at  night.  For  general  use  our  dishes 
are  of  the  plain  green  Sedgi  ware;  service 
plates  and  plates  for  special  courses  having  a 
design  of  birds,  very  similar  in  character  to  the 
design  of  the  hall  paper.  We  use  no  rug, 
merely  a  pohshed  floor  which  is  very  easily 
kept  clean,  and  which  really  gives  a  more  pleas- 
ing effect. 


42        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 
THE  KITCHEN 

Of  all  the  rooms  in  our  house  the  kitchen 
seems  to  make  the  most  general  appeal,  and  I 
think  that  is  because  I  thoroughly  enjoy  ar- 
ranging a  kitchen.  First  of  all,  I  like  to  make 
everything  as  convenient  as  possible,  and  then 
I  like  to  make  the  room  as  picturesque  and 
amusing  as  possible.  While  I  do  not  want 
this  room  to  be  cluttered  with  a  lot  of  mean- 
ingless things,  I  do  feel  that  it  is  legitimate 
to  have  a  few  purely  decorative  objects  which 
have  no  other  purpose  than  to  make  the  kitchen 
smile  at  one  instead  of  frowning,  as  so  many 
kitchens  do. 

As  we  live  in  the  country  and  have  an  all- 
gas  stove,  we  have  a  white  kitchen ;  that  is,  the 
walls  and  woodwork  are  painted  white.  The 
sink  and  drain-boards  are  of  white  enamel. 
Directly  above  the  sink  are  two  large  casement 
windows  and  an  electric  fixture,  which  give 
light  in  the  daytime  and  after  dark,  not  only 
for  dishwashing  and  the  preparation  of  food, 
but  for  the  actual  cooking  as  well,  the  light 
falling  over  one's  left  shoulder  when  at  the 
stove. 

At  the  left  of  the  sink  and  hanging  above 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       43 

the  drain-board  I  have  the  utensils,  such  as  a 
dish  mop,  soap  shaker,  plate-scraper,  bottle 
brush  and  soap  dish,  while  on  the  right  are 
metal  and  glass  measuring  cups,  lemon 
squeezer,  tea  strainer.  Small  sauce  pans, 
spoons,  eggbeater,  grater,  skewers,  sieves,  cof- 
fee pot,  and  canisters  that  are  normally  used 
near  the  sink,  are  within  easy  reach.  I  find  it 
convenient  to  have  a  low  bench  near  the  sink 
on  which  to  keep  an  enameled  pail  with  a  cover, 
which  is  used  for  waste  and  emptied  once  a 
day  into  the  garbage  can  in  the  yard,  then 
scalded.  On  this  same  bench  I  keep  the  enam- 
eled dish  pan  and  the  drainer. 

At  the  right  of  the  stove  I  have  a  shelf,  quite 
low,  and  on  it  are  canisters  containing  salt, 
sugar,  tea,  cocoa,  and  flour  for  sauces. 
Matches,  holders,  a  spatula,  and  other  utensils 
that  one  needs  when  working  at  the  stove  are 
right  at  hand,  even  though  they  are  duplicated 
in  other  parts  of  the  room.  A  shelf  that  is 
a  part  of  the  stove  holds  a  salt  shaker,  pepper 
gi'inder,  and  a  bottle  of  paprika,  so  that  the 
ordinary  seasonings  are  never  out  of  reach.  A 
large  dresser  contains  all  supplies  on  the 
shelves,  while  below,  in  ample  cupboards,  heavy 
pots  for  occasional  use  are  kept. 


44        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

The  curtains  at  the  windows  are  made  of  un- 
bleached hnen  crash,  with  borders  of  Russian 
darned  work,  in  a  block  design. 

Bright-colored  German  transparencies  hang 
in  the  windows  above  the  sink,  and  on  a  narrow 
rail  all  around  the  room  is  a  row  of  decorative 
plates  and  other  pieces  of  gaily  colored  china. 
This  rail  is  edged  with  narrow  blue  and  white 
lace  paper,  and  below  it  hang  copper  dishes  and 
Brittany  bowls.  Painted  canisters  for  cakes 
and  pies,  a  painted  clock  with  weights,  a  chintz- 
lined  tray  hanging  on  the  wall,  pots  of  bright 
red  geraniums  on  the  window  sills,  and  bluish- 
green  chairs  with  roses  painted  on  the  backs,  all 
help  to  make  the  kitchen  a  jolly  place  in  which 
to  work.  The  telephone  is  in  the  hall  only  a 
few  feet  from  the  center  of  the  kitchen  though 
separated  from  it  by  two  doors. 

Just  back  of  the  kitchen,  and  opening  out 
onto  a  back  porch,  is  a  little  room  where  the  ice 
chest  is  kept,  with  all  utensils  needed  near  it 
hanging  on  hooks,  or  placed  on  shelves  conven- 
iently near.  In  this  room  the  woodwork  is  all 
painted  a  bluish  green  like  the  outside  door, 
even  the  ice  chest  and  the  bucket  for  the  ice 
cream  freezer  having  received  a  coat  of  the  same 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       45 

paint,  so  that  even  in  this  most  utilitarian  room 
the  colors  harmonize  and  thus  complete  the  pic- 
ture. 

ONE  OF  THE  GUEST  ROOMS 

Directly  over  the  dining-room,  and  having  a 
western  exposure,  is  the  guest  room,  which  I 
particularly  enjoyed  furnishing.  The  walls, 
ceiling,  woodwork,  and  furniture  of  this  room 
are  deep  cream  color.  At  top  and  bottom 
of  the  wall  there  is  a  very  narrow  border  of 
turquoise  blue  ribbon  and  pink  roses.  The 
colors  in  this  border  are  repeated  in  the  oval 
braided  rugs,  which  I  made  from  strips  of  tur- 
quoise blue  and  cream-colored  rags. 

The  pictures  are  all  French  prints  in  tones 
of  greenish  blue,  cream,  and  rose  color,  framed 
in  dull  gilt  and  suspended  from  the  molding 
by  turquoise  blue  ribbon.  The  four-post  bed 
has  a  coverlet  of  turquoise  blue  and  cream  in  a 
quaint  design  of  roses  and  leaves.  The  dress- 
ing table  cover,  as  well  as  the  cover  to  the  bed- 
side stand  and  the  Italian  linen  towels,  all  have 
cross  stitch  designs  of  baskets  of  flowers.  The 
toilet  articles  on  the  dressing  table  are  of  ivory 
which  has  taken  on  a  rich  color  like  the  walls. 


46       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

while  the  washstand  set  being  of  clear  glass 
looks  as  if  it  too,  matched  the  room  exactly. 
At  the  windows,  besides  dark  green  shades  that 
are  used  only  at  night,  I  have  Dutch  or  double 
sash  curtains  of  unbleached  mushn  edged  with 
cream  fringe,  with  over-curtains  of  turquoise 
blue  linen,  held  back  with  bands  of  faded  chintz. 
The  electric  fixtures  at  either  side  of  the  dress- 
ing table  are  finished  in  cream  white  enamel, 
Salmon  pink  geraniums  on  the  window  sills,  a 
bonnet  box  covered  with  paper  like  that  on  the 
walls,  and  trimmed  with  the  same  little  ribbon 
borders,  and  a  door  knocker  of  green  bronze  in 
the  shape  of  a  charming  angel  figure  with  long 
tapering  wings,  are  the  small  furnishings  for 
this  room  which  distinguish  it  from  the  other 
sleeping  rooms. 

THE   BATHROOM 

The  bathroom,  which  is  at  the  head  of  the 
stairs,  has  walls  and  woodwork  painted  with 
white  oil  paint.  The  floor  is  of  white  hexag- 
onal tiles,  the  fixtures,  even  those  of  the  elec- 
tric lights,  are  of  white  enamel.  At  the  win- 
dow there  is  a  white  sash  curtain,  with  over- 
curtains  and  valance  of  blue  and  white  Japa- 
nese toweling.     The  blue  is  repeated  in  a  rag 


FURNISHING  THE  NEW  HOUSE       47 

rug  on  the  floor,  and  in  a  single  wall  decora- 
tion: a  porcelain  "Bambino,"  white  on  a  bright 
blue  ground. 

THE  maid's  EOOM 

On  the  third  floor  there  is  a  pretty  room  with 
sloping  sides  and  dormer  windows.  The  wood- 
work is  the  natural  pine  varnished,  so  in  it  I 
carried  out  a  yellow  and  white  color  scheme, 
having  a  ceiling  paper  with  a  tiny  conventional 
design  in  yellow  on  a  white  ground  used  on 
walls  and  ceiling  both.  The  curtains  are  of 
chintz  in  a  design  of  small  yellow  roses  and 
green  leaves.  The  rugs  are  in  two  tones  of 
brown ;  the  furniture,  with  the  exception  of  the 
plain  white  iron  bed,  is  in  brown  also.  Sev- 
eral pictures  in  tones  of  brown,  yellow,  and 
green,  help  to  make  the  maid's  room  as  inviting 
as  any  room  in  the  house. 

THE   OFFICE 

On  the  first  floor  of  our  house,  there  is  an 
extra  room,  which  does  not  open  into  any  other 
room  and  which  at  the  same  time  is  accessible 
to  all  of  them.  It  has  one  window  to  the  east 
and  two  to  the  north,  and  it  is  in  this  well- 
lighted  room  that  I  did  my  work  for  the  Jour- 


48       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

nal.  Here  I  had  my  files,  my  reference  books, 
my  samples,  my  typewriter,  everything 
that  I  needed  to  do  my  work  comfortably,  so 
as  not  to  have  the  "office"  atmosphere  reach 
any  other  part  of  the  house.  Each  day  after  I 
had  finished  telhng  my  correspondents  what  to 
do  with  their  houses,  I  closed  the  door  of  my  of- 
fice room,  and  passed  out  into  my  own  dear 
home,  with  the  hope  that  I  had  succeeded  in 
helping  other  women  to  get  an  atmosphere  of 
simple  beauty  and  comfort  into  theirs. 


PART  TWO 


INTRODUCTION 

The  average  book  on  the  subject  of  house 
furnishing  and  decoration  is  of  use  only  to 
those  who  can  afford  to  employ  experts  to 
decorate  their  walls,  prepare  their  floors  and 
woodwork,  upholster  their  furniture,  and  give 
advice  on  the  selection  of  rugs,  hangings,  pic- 
tures, hghting  fixtures,  and  the  countless  other 
things  that  require  much  thought  in  the  equip- 
ment of  every  house. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  less  than 
ten  per  cent,  of  the  women  in  the  United  States 
can  afford  to  keep  even  one  servant.  The 
other  ninety  per  cent,  not  only  do  all  or  most 
of  their  own  housework,  but  when  their  houses 
are  to  be  equipped  they  must  use  inexpensive 
furnishings  and  do  the  actual  work  of  finishing 
the  woodwork,  floors,  walls,  and  furniture 
themselves.  Their  home-loving  instinct  gives 
them  enough  strength  and  enthusiasm  for  this 
work,  but  too  often  the  knowledge  of  the  easiest 
way  to  go  about  the  work,  as  well  as  the  im- 

61 


52       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

agination  necessary  for  a  really  charming  re- 
sult, is  lacking. 

My  eyes  were  opened  to  these  facts  during 
the  years  in  which  I  served  as  editor  of  "The 
Little  House"  department  of  the  Ladies* 
Home  Journal.  Through  the  thousands  of 
letters  that  came  to  me  from  women  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  all  of  which  I  answered  per- 
sonally, I  was  brought  into  intimate  touch  with 
the  home-making  problems  of  many  who,  ex- 
cept for  this  free  service,  had  no  way  of  get- 
ting much-needed  advice.  Often  the  question 
of  money  was  not  involved,  but  the  writers 
lived  in  such  isolated  places  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  get  professional  help.  Even  their  pur- 
chases had  to  be  made  from  samples  and  cata- 
logues. 

The  following  extracts  from  answers  that 
some  of  my  letters  of  advice  called  forth,  speak 
for  themselves : 

"I  am  going  to  follow  your  ideas  almost  to 
the  letter  as  you  seem  to  have  caught  the  spirit 
of  my  real  need." 

"I  have  already  arranged  the  furniture  as 
you  suggested  and  the  room  looks  like  a  differ- 
ent place." 

"I  have  continued  to  use  the  old  walnut  set 


INTRODUCTION  53 

but  have  used  the  chintz  and  the  color  you  sug- 
gested for  the  walls  and  the  room  is  lovely." 

"I  feel  I  am  indebted  to  you  for  life.  You 
gave  me  so  many  new  ideas.  My  ugly  fire- 
place is  a  thing  of  the  past,  as  I  followed  your 
advice  and  it  worked  beautifully." 

"You  have  selected  just  the  colors  for  per- 
fect harmony  in  my  room.  How  you,  so  far 
away,  can  tell  so  quickly  what  the  color  scheme 
should  be,  when  I  here  in  the  room  could  not 
picture  it  to  my  satisfaction,  is  a  mystery." 

"You  would  be  well  rewarded  for  your 
trouble  could  you  see  how  attractive  our  din- 
ing-room looks.  I  followed  your  advice 
closely ;  had  tables  made  of  pine,  used  the  Japa- 
nese toweling  for  curtains  and  covers,  and  the 
whole  thing  cost  less  than  ten  dollars." 

"Your  letter  quite  transformed  my  whole 
vision  of  the  nursery  about  which  I  wrote  you. 
I  shall  follow  every  suggestion,  and  I  know  the 
result  will  be  the  prettiest,  most  charming  nur- 
sery imaginable." 

"I  have  already  started  on  my  dining-room 
curtains  and  can  close  my  eyes  and  see  that 
pretty  room  as  it  will  look  in  a  few  weeks,  due, 
dear  lady,  to  your  kind  helpfulness." 

From  a  bride  who  married  a  poor  man,  and 


54       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

from  a  large  house  went  to  live  in  a  few  rooms. 
Her  sisters,  who  had  both  married  men  with 
money,  were  unable  to  help  her  with  advice  as 
to  how  to  live  in  her  small  quarters. 

*'Your  personal  experience  helps  me  a  lot, 
and  I  dare  say  I  shall  become  so  wedded  to  few 
rooms  that  I  shall  be  pitying  my  less  fortunate 
sisters." 

Should  this  book  fall  into  the  hands  of  the 
sort  of  person  from  whom  I  frequently  re- 
ceived letters — the  person  to  whom  "money  is 
no  object" — she  will  probably  be  struck  by  the 
obviousness  of  much  that  I  have  to  say,  so  for 
her  benefit  I  quote  a  letter  which  is  typical  of 
hundreds  I  received: 

"I  am  about  to  be  married,  and  having 
worked  in  an  office  ever  since  I  left  school  I 
have  had  little  chance  to  learn  much  about  a 
house.  Now  that  I  am  to  have  one  of  my  own, 
I  want  it  to  be  a  real  home,  so  I  turn  to  you  for 
advice.  My  husband's  salary  will  be  $75  a 
month.  Could  you  send  me  a  list  of  furniture, 
linen,  china,  and  kitchen  utensils  that  will  be 
necessary  for  a  five-roomed  house?" 

After  making  out  numerous  hsts  of  equip- 
ment in  accordance  with  salaries  of  from  $50  a 
month  upward,  I  finally  put  them  into  concrete 


INTRODUCTION  55 

form,  in  a  loose-leafed  pamphlet,  called  "The 
Little  House,'*  the  amplified  substance  of 
which  I  give  in  Book  II  of  this  volume. 

The  following  letter  contained  in  each  pam- 
phlet expresses  its  purpose : 

THE  LADIES'  HOME  JOURNAL 

INDEPENDENCE    saUAEE 
,  PHILADELPHIA 

EDITORIAL  ROOMS 

Dear  Madam: 

In  answer  to  your  request  for  suggestions  this 
booklet  is  sent  to  you,  to  explain  the  uses  of  the  va- 
rious rooms  of  a  small  house  and  to  give  a  list  of 
appropriate  furnishings  for  those  rooms. 

The  prices  given  will  enable  you  to  adjust  your 
selections  to  your  own  circumstances.  A  house  fur- 
nished with  the  cottage  furniture  will  be  in  as  good 
taste  as  one  furnished  in  the  most  expensive  way. 
The  important  thing  is  to  have  your  home  honest. 
Do  not  select  cheap  imitations  of  expensive  furnish- 
ings. By  giving  attention  to  line,  color  and  com- 
fortable arrangement,  the  simplest  furnishings  will 
produce  delightful  results. 

As  each  house  is  a  law  unto  itself,  you  will  be 
wise,  when  selecting  its  equipment,  not  to  be  governed 
by  prevailing  fashions  nor  by  what  your  friends  or 
neighbors  are  using  in  their  homes.  After  all,  the 
thing  which  gives  a  house  charm  is  its  individuality, 


56       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

so  do  not  feel  that  it  must  be  completely  furnished  at 
the  outset.  Let  it  grow  with  your  needs,  that  in  the 
end  it  may  be  an  expression  of  the  family  life  lived 
within  it. 

Cordially  yours, 

Lilian  Batliss  Green, 
The  Little  House  Editor. 


CHAPTER  I 

Suggestions  for  Fuenishing 

THE  vestibule 

THE  only  furniture  necessary  in  a  vesti- 
bule is  a  rack  for  umbrellas.  The  walls 
should  be  painted  with  oil  paint  in  some  warm 
color,  and  the  floor  should  be  tiled  or  covered 
with  inlaid  linoleum  in  tile  or  mosaic  design. 

If  the  vestibule  serves  also  as  the  only  hall 
it  should  contain,  in  addition  to  the  above- 
named  article,  a  rug,  a  small  table  or  chair  and 
a  mirror. 

THE   HALL 

Through  the  front  door  one  gets  one's  first 
impression  of  the  occupants  of  a  house.  The 
furnishings  of  the  hall  should,  therefore,  be 
carefully  chosen.  It  is  a  passageway  rather 
than  a  room  and  requires  very  little  furniture. 

The  walls  may  be  done  in  a  landscape  paper 
if  one  wishes  to  make  the  room  appear  larger, 
or  in  plain  Colonial  yellow  if  a  bright  effect  is 
desired. 

57 


58        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


Furniture 


Table  .  ■.  .  . 
Mirror  .... 
Straight  chair  > 
Chest  .... 
Sofa  .... 
Grandfather's  clock 
Settle  .... 
Telephone  stand  . 


"33  >, 
g'§.9 

o.Sto 

o 

$3.75 
3.00 
2.75 

13.50 


60.00 

18.00 

6.75 


.Sffl 


09    rj    (J 


$6.75 
3.00 
4.50 

13.50 

60.00 

18.00 

6.75 


08  g  ffl  g 

'3*2  si 
5  2-3  3 

o  p,  p,  a> 

$8.25 
3.40 
5.50 

16.50 


22.50 
8.25 


ca  ^  w  g 

.2  t.  CS  (3 

$9.75 
3.75 
6.50 

19.50 


27.00 
9.75 


THE  LIVING-ROOM 

In  houses  or  apartments  of  but  five  or  six 
rooms  there  is  usually  but  one  hving-room. 
This  room  should  represent  the  tastes  which  the 
members  of  the  family  have  in  common.  The 
first  requisite  of  such  a  room  is  that  it  should  be 
restful.  It  is  therefore  advisable  to  use  a  wall 
covering  that  is  plain  in  effect.  Tan  or  cream 
is  good  in  a  room  that  is  inclined  to  be  dark; 
gray-green  or  gray  itself  in  a  very  bright  liv- 
ing-room. One  large  rug  in  two  tones  of  one 
color,  preferably  the  same  color  as  the  walls,  is 
better  than  a  figured  rug  for  this  room.  Avoid 
using  rocking-chairs  in  the  living-room.  They 
give  a  restless  look  and  take  up  more  than  their 
share  of  space.    It  is  better  to  have  comforta- 


A   buffet   made  from 
the  top   of  a  kitchen 
cabinet  and  a  kitchen 
table 


$fli 


•-i 


r 


i^'r- 


^\\ 


The      silver      service 
har)nonices  well  with 
this  Hepplewhite  side- 
board 


Attractive      furniture 
can  be  made  by  a  car- 
penter and  painted  at 
home 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      59 


ble  armchairs,  upholstered  in  plain  material, 
or  willow  chairs  with  cushions  of  chintz,  if  this 
material  is  used  as  curtains.  A  roomy  table 
with  a  good  reading  lamp  on  it  is  essential, 
while  open  book-shelves,  a  writing  desk  or 
table,  a  sofa,  a  sewing  table  and  a  piano  are 
all  appropriate  furnishings  for  this  room. 

Plants  are  always  appropriate  to  use  in 
sunny  windows,  and  pictures  of  common  inter- 
est, framed  in  polished  wood  or  dull  gilt  frames, 
help  to  make  the  living-room  attractive.  Use 
very  little  bric-a-brac.  Nothing  which  does 
not  actually  contribute  to  the  beauty  of  the 
room  should  be  allowed  to  find  place  there. 


Furniture 


Table      . 

Chair 

Sofa    .     . 

Armchair 

Desk  chair 

Desk    .     . 

Bookcase 

Sewing  table 

Tea  table 

Footstool 

Wood  box  or  rack 

Piano 

Music  cabinet    . 


2.75 
9.75 
9.00 
5.00 
1.50 
2,25 

200.00 
6.75 


.Ssl 

®_ 

d  2  b 

$15.00 
22.50 

20.00 
6.75 

19.50 
9.00 
5.00 
1.50 
3.75 
5.00 
250.00 
6.75 


9 

cs  ^  o  o 

'e'2  o  i 

O  O*^  CO 

.=  h  03  d 

,x  .'.00 
25.00 


v./ 

$17. 


7.75 
21.75 
11.25 
6.00 
2.00 
3.00 


8.25 


o      o 
O  es 

■fl-g- 

o  o  a 

$50.00 
45.00 
55.00 
38.00 
15.00 
90.00 

100.00 

17.00 

35.00 

6.00 

5.00 

450.00 
28.00 


60       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


Ik 


fib 


HI       ^1 

Table $35.00  $59.00  $12.00 

Chair 30.50  50.00  12.75 

Sofa        68.00  100.00  23.50 

Armchair 32.00  65.00  9.75 

Desk  chair 4.75  15.00  8.25 

Desk 28.00  90.00  37.50 

Bookcase 25.00  100.00  13,50 

Sewing  table 18.50  13.50 

Tea    table 12.00  7.25 

Footstool 4.50  6.00  5.25 

Wood  box  or  rack  ....  5.00  5.00  3.50 

Piano 450.00 

Music  cabinet 10.00 

When  the  most  important  room  in  a  house 
faces  north,  its  decoration  should  be  planned 
first  and  should  govern  that  of  the  adjoining 
rooms.  The  best  color  for  the  walls  of  a  north 
room  is  yellow  in  a  tone  ranging  from  a  deep 
cream  color  to  tan  or  a  deep  pumpkin  color; 
any  shade,  in  fact  that  will  give  the  illusion  of 
sunlight.  By  using  thought,  such  rooms  may 
be  very  cheerful  indeed.  In  rooms  that  are 
sunny,  it  is  possible  to  use  any  color  except  one 
that  fades  easily. 

A  favorite  way  to  treat  a  living-room  that 
opens  into  a  dining-room  by  folding  or  French 
doors,  is  to  have  the  walls  of  both  rooms  alike, 
in  some  plain  color.  The  rug  in  the  living- 
room  should  also  be  plain  in  several  shades 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      61 

darker  than  the  walls;  the  hangings  and  chair 
covers  may  be  of  chintz.  In  the  dining-room 
since  it  is  best  to  use  a  rug  with  a  small  figure, 
the  hangings  should  be  of  a  plain  color  to  em- 
phasize the  predominating  color  in  the  living- 
room  chintz.  This  brings  the  two  rooms  into 
perfect  harmony,  without  having  them  just 
ahke. 

THE  BEDROOM 

The  first  requisite  in  the  furnishing  of  this 
room  is  that  it  be  fresh  and  clean. 

Unless  the  room  must  be  used  as  a  study 
or  sitting-room  in  the  daytime  the  furniture 
should  be  reduced  as  much  as  possible.  The 
walls  should  be  light  in  color,  and  the  wood- 
work white  if  possible.  The  furniture  may 
also  be  white,  although  dull-finished  mahogany 
in  Colonial  designs,  with  small  rag  rugs  on  the 
floor,  makes  a  charming  bedroom.  One  set  of 
draw  curtains,  of  figured  chintz  if  the  walls  are 
plain,  and  of  plain-colored  material  if  the  walls 
have  a  small  figure,  is  enough  for  each  win- 
dow. 

The  furnishings  of  a  young  girl's  bedroom 
should  be  carried  out  in  her  favorite  color,  and 
to  the  usual  bedroom  furniture  should  be  added 


62       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

a  desk,  lamp,  work  table  and  bookshelves. 
The  bedroom  for  a  growing  boy  should  be  his 
own  sitting-room  and  study  as  well:  a  place 
where  he  may  entertain  his  friends,  do  his 
studying  and  develop  his  hobbies.  The  walls, 
hangings,  couch  cover,  et  cetera,  should  be  very 
plain,  as  a  boy  usually  has  a  collection  of 
trophies  which  need  the  plainest  sort  of  a  back- 
ground in  order  to  prevent  the  room  from  look- 
ing cluttered.  Instead  of  the  usual  bed  he 
should  have  an  iron-framed  couch,  which  in  the 
daytime  may  be  made  up  with  a  plain  dark 
cover  with  cushions,  to  be  used  as  a  couch;  a 
chiffonier,  an  armchair,  bookshelves,  writing 
table  and  one  or  two  small  rugs  will  complete 
the  furnishings  of  the  boy's  bedroom. 


Furniture 


8     8         UM  *'M'i  ^o^  S 


11*  i:   i:^   ire 

5s-    -o-g^    -«•§•: .    ■«'g 


la"  .laS 

w^-H  *_  9 

nO-d  rot)"* 

foMt       -312       ■Sfl'g  "3  lis 

l§.s    g-gs    g-gfli  -g-gfli 

O.B  B        ^*®         «P.P.»  op.p.« 

Bed       .     .     .     r.,     .     .     .     $9.75      $16.50      $18.75  $21.00 

Mattress 3.35        16.00        16.00  16.00 

to            to             to  to 

16.00        25.00        25.00  25.00 

Box  spring 20.00        20.00        20.00  20.00 

Crib  (iron) 12.75        12.75        12.75  12.75 

Crib  mattress       ....      3.75          9.00          9.00  9.00 

Pillows  (pair)      ....      1.25         2.10         2.10  2.10 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      63 


I*  6  e 

.            ^  00 1^^  00*1^  ^ 

ij  ti  2  «_^  «     S 

£"3  2  .2  3.t!  .SS^S 

^^S  5£m  5  2-3  3 

Bureau 9.75  22.50  25.00 

Washstand 1.50  2.00  2.75 

Dressing    table    ....       9.00  12,57  14.25 

Chiffonier    (no    mirror)     .       9.00  12.00  14.25 

Chair 2.75  4,50  5.25 

Rocking-chair       ....       2.75  6.75  7.75 

Waist  box      ....     Home-made  2.50  3.50 

Desk 4.50  9.75  10.75 

Armchair 6.75  7.75 

Couch 5.00  13.25 

(iron  frame)  (box) 

Bookshelves    ....     Home-made  9.00  10.50 

Cheval  glass 11.25  15.50  16.50 

Stoves 

Gas,  $  5.00        Wood     .     .  $15.50  Franklin  grate  or 

Coal,    17.00    Wood  or  coal    25.50  wood  or  coal  . 

k 


•an"* 
"a  3  «§ 
S  o.H  d 

S  t'  «  a 

O  PipiO 

27.50 
3.50 

15.75 

16.50 
6,00 
8.75 
4.50 

11.75 
8.75 


12.00 
18.00 

andirons 
.  $35.00 


•Sftg  «5.a 

Bed      .........     $55.00  $30.00 

Mattress 36.00  36.00 

Box  spring 20.00  20.00 

Crib    (iron) 12.75  12.75 

Crib    mattress     .....         9.00  9.00 

Pillows    (pair) 6.00  5.25 

Bureau 75.00  50.00 

Washstand 6.00  10.00 

(enamel  irwi) 

Dressing   table 55.00  26.00 

Chiffonier    (no   mirror)    .     .     100.00  39.00 

(High  Boy) 


I 

$56.00 
36.00 


20.00 


5.25 
67.50 


48.00 
60.00 


k 


64        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

111       l.i- 

Chair 10.00  6.50  8.00 

Rocking-chair 9.00  6.50  8.35 

Waist  box 30.00  16.00  4.50 

Desk 60.00  20.00  28.50 

Armchair 24.00  8.00  7.50 

Couch 60,00  50.00  25.00 

Bookshelves (built  in)  21.50  13.50 

Cheval  glass 50.00  25.00 

Correct  Articles  to  Use  on  a  Bureau  or  Dress- 
ing Table 

Mirror,  brush,  comb,  nailfile,  buttonhook, 
pintray,  shoehorn,  powder-box,  stud-box,  pic- 
ture frames,  small  powder-box,  clock,  hair-re- 
ceiver. 

These  may  be  of  silver,  ebony,  tortoise  shell, 
ivory  or  Parisian  ivory. 

CORRECT  ARTICLES  FOR  WASHSTAND 

In  addition  to  regular  toilet  set  of  china  or 
crystal  this  is  the  place  for  bottles  of  toilet 
water,  talcum  powder,  tooth  powder,  medicine, 
etc. 

THE   SEWING-ROOM 

Even  in  a  small  house  there  is  sometimes  an 
extra  room  which  may  be  fitted  up  as  a  sewing- 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      65 

room  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  very  convenient 
and  practical,  and  at  the  same  time  so  attractive 
as  to  serve  as  an  extra  bedroom  occasionally. 
This  room  should  be  kept  as  light  as  possible 
and  should  be  so  furnished  that  it  may  be  easily 
kept  clean. 

Furniture 

Sewing  machine  with  fiat  top  to  be  used  as  a  dressing 

table $20.00 

Chair 1.26 

Box  couch 13.25 

ChiflFonier 9.00 

Mirror  against  a  door 11.25 

Low  rocking-chair  without  arms 1.50 

Cutting  table,  box  underneath.    Tilt  top  to  be  used  as 

a  settle 6.75 

Clothespole 3.38 

THE  DINING-ROOM 

The  room  in  which  the  family  assembles  sev- 
eral times  each  day  to  enjoy  its  meals  together 
should  be  the  most  cheerful  room  in  the  house. 

Because  there  is  so  much  lovely  blue-and- 
white  china  in  use  many  persons  feel  that  they 
want  dining-rooms  with  blue  walls.  This  is 
usually  a  mistake,  as  blue  used  in  large  quanti- 
ties absorbs  the  light  and  makes  a  room  gloomy, 
particularly  on  dark  days  and  at  night.  By 
using  Colonial  yellow  on  the  walls,  with  hang- 
ings, rug  and  decorative  china  in  blue  and 
white,  one  has  an  almost  ideal  arrangement. 


66        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


There  are  many  charming  landscape  and  fol- 
iage papers  on  the  market  which,  used  without 
^P^^        A  ^  pictures  against 

bulbs  or  plants 
blooming  on  the 
windowsills  and 
with  hangings 
of  plain  semi- 
transparent  col- 
ored    material, 

A  plate  rack  easily  made  that  can  be  make    mOSt     dc- 
uted  above  a  serving  table  ,.    ,  ,  „    , 

light  I  ul  rooms. 
Plate  rails  or  racks  will  always  be  a  solution 
for  reducing  the  apparent  height  of  an  over- 
high ceiling.  It  is  better  to  use  a  simple  flat 
molding  or  paneling  than  to  crowd  a  plate  rail 
full  of  inharmonious  objects. 


Furniture 


2  o  O 

■S.b  ** 
'2"°  >> 
St,  9 

Sis* 

Table    .     .     .    t    ,     .  $9.00 

Chair 2.75 

Armchair 2.75 

Serving  table       .     .     .  8.25 


■-  o  t> 
»  0  u 

$30.00 
4.50 
6.75 
9.00 


-  »s  s? 
S  oS 

«•■"  rt 

.s  ki  c3  a 
o  o,p,s 

$10.50 

5.50 

7.75 

10.50 


B  o  a 


o  fe  2  0 
o 
O 


$12. 


1.00 

6.50 

8.75 

12.75 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      67 


»<  L,  n 

o.S  at 
O 

Buffet  ......  18.00 

China  closet   ....  15.00 

Serving  table  on  wheels  16.75 

Screen        3.75 

High  chair      ....  2.50 

Stoves 

Gas,  $  5.00        Wood  .     .  $15.50 

Cosi,  17.00        Wood  or  coal  25.50 


Jsa 


S  ? 

O  PiO 

O 

27.50 

30.00 

16.75 

5.00 

2.50 


S§J 
S'"  a 

a>^    . 

"3  3  ®  g 

S  0>M  OS 
•S  >i  <9  fl 
O  PiPi« 

O 

21.00 

34.50 

30.50 

4.50 

4.15 


BO  "^  ri 
■CO 

.S  ^  <3  (3 

24.00 

39.00 

34.00 

5.25 

5.50 


Franklin  grate  or  andirons 
wood  or  coal  .     .  $35.00 


O  flS 

•si;® 


•a  9 

S  3  « 


Table     .......  $85.00  $21.00 

Chair 10.00  6.50 

Armchair 15.00  10.00 

Serving  table 35.00  18.00 

Buffet 125.00  34.00 

China  closet 60.00  45.00 

Serving  table  on  wheels       .  27.00  27.00 

Screen 25.00  20.00 

Hi^  chair 10.00  9.00 


I 

$16.50 
8.25 

28.00 
82.50 

24.00 

8.00 


THE   KITCHEN 

The  room  in  which  the  average  housekeeper 
spends  the  greater  part  of  her  time  is  usuaUy 
the  least  attractive  room  in  the  house,  whereas 
it  should  be — and  we  leam  by  visiting  foreign 
kitchens  it  may  be  made — a  picturesque  set- 


68 


THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


ting  for  one  of  the  finest  arts — the  art  of  cook- 
ery. 

The  woodwork  should  be  hght  in  color,  the 
walls  should  be  painted  with  oil  paint,  or  cov- 
ered with  washable  material,  this  also  in  a  light 
color. 


Furniture 

stoves— Gas $2.50,    $10.00,   $30.00 

Blue-flame  kerosene 10.25 

Coal,   wood,    gas 56.00 

Coal    and    wood 49.75 

Small  electric 33.00 

Table    $2.10;  $9.00  (drop  leaf) ;  $11.25  (white  enamel  on  steel) 

Chair $1.87,    $6.75 

Ice  chest $7.00,  $15.00,  $40.00   (white  enamel) 

Kitchen  cabinet  .     .      .     $38.00;  $39.00  (white  enamel  on  steel) 
Linoleum    60c.  square  yard,  printed;  $1.60  square  yard,  inlaid 

INITIAL  SUPPLY  OF  SMALL  FURNISHINGS 


Small-sized  ironing- 
board      .... 
Small    glass    washboard 
Clothesline    and    pins 
2     irons,     holder     and 

stand  .... 
2-gallon  kerosene  can 
Small  bread  board  . 
Rack  for  dish  towels 
6  large  canisters  . 
Wooden  salt  box  . 
1  iron  skillet  .     . 

1  double  boiler    . 
Dish  drainer  . 

2  dishmops    . 
Wire    bottle    washer 
Small   rolling    pin    . 
Chopping  machine    . 
Large  saucepan  . 


3      graduated      copper, 

10.35  enameled     or     nickel- 

.35  handled     dishes     .     .       .50 

.15  2    covered    earthenware 

or     enameled     csisse- 

.70  roles       .     .     .     .     .     1.50 

.45  2   pie   plates   enameled      .20 

.15 

.10  Alarm  clock   ....  $1.00 

.60  Galvanized-iron      scrub 

.10         pail    ......      .30 

.30  Small    covered   garbage 

1.00  pail 35 

.25  Scrubbing  brush  ...       .20 

.10  Broom    and    brushes     .       .60 

.10  1        quart        ice-cream 

.10  freezer 1.75 

1.10  Roller  for  towel  ...       .10 

.30  Bread  box 60 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      69 

4   small   canisters    .     .      .40      3        graduated       small 

2  sheet-iron  pans  to  use  saucepans 30 


as    roasting    pans 
Dishpan  (fiber)   . 
Plate  scraper 
Soap  shaker   .     . 
Vegetable  brush 
Muffin  tins 
Granite  soup  kettle 


.20  Glass    butter    jar    .     .       .35 

.50  6    popover    or    custard 

.15  cups 30 

.10      Soapdish 25 

.05  Knives,  forks,  egg  beat- 

.25  er,    corkscrew,    lemon 

.45  squeezer,  etc.    .     .     .     5.50 


THE  NURSERY 


In  describing  the  requisites  of  the  nursery 
of  a  small  house,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a 
room  that  has  to  be  used  by  the  children  both 
as  a  playroom  and  as  a  sleeping-  and  dressing- 
room  as  well,  as  it  would  be  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  the  average  small  house  would 
have  rooms  enough  to  provide  both  a  day  and  a 
night  nursery  which,  however,  is  the  ideal  ar- 
rangement where  possible. 

Such  a  room  should  have  one  or  more  sunny 
windows,  with  outside  blinds  which  for  the  day- 
time nap  may  be  closed,  to  make  the  room  dark 
without  keeping  out  the  air.  If  possible  there 
should  be  a  fireplace,  but  that  is  not  as  neces- 
sary as  the  sun.  The  floor  should  be  bare,  so 
that  it  may  be  kept  free  from  dust ;  small  rugs 
may  be  provided  when  the  children  wish  to  sit 
on  the  floor.  The  walls  should  be  painted 
with  oil  paint  if  possible,  in  some  light,  at- 
tractive shade  of  cream,  gray,  or  gray-green. 


70       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

Simple  draw-curtains  of  plain  white,  of  chintz 
or  of  some  plain-colored  washable  material, 
may  be  necessary  to  soften  the  light,  but  it  is 
quite  all  right  to  leave  the  windows  in  this 
room  free  from  hangings  if  preferred.  A  com- 
fortable winged  chair,  with  a  slip  cover  of  gay 
flowered  chintz,  is  a  picturesque  addition  to  this 
room,  and  one  that  a  "grown-up"  will  appre- 
ciate when  visiting  the  nursery.  For  the  chil- 
dren, a  low  table,  and  a  chair  apiece,  made  of 
plain  oiled  wood  preferably,  will  be  required. 
After  the  crib  stage  has  been  passed,  it  is  well 
to  select  a  "day-bed"  for  this  room,  as  it  may  be 
made  up  with  a  dark  cover  to  be  used  in  the 
daytime  as  a  comfortable  sofa.  A  chiffonier 
with  plenty  of  drawers  completes  the  neces- 
sary movable  furniture,  but  every  nursery 
should  have  low  shelves  and  cupboards  built 
for  toys  and  books,  if  the  room  is  to  be  kept 
neat,  and  if  the  children  are  to  be  taught  to  put 
things  away  after  they  have  finished  using 
them.  If  there  is  a  little  wall  space  left  near 
the  floor,  it  should  be  blackened,  and  enclosed 
by  a  molding.  Such  a  stationary  blackboard  is 
a  source  of  endless  delight  in  early  attempts  at 
drawing,  figure  and  letter  making. 
As  a  wall  decoration,  instead  of  a  permanent 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      71 

frieze  of  "Mother  Goose"  or  ''Alice  in  Wonder- 
land" pictures,  which  a  child  will  in  time  out- 
grow, I  suggest  having  parallel  moldings  ahout 
ten  inches  apart  placed  across  at  least  one  wall 
space.  This  space  should  be  covered  with  glass 
between  the  moldings,  the  higher  of  which 
should  have  grooves  cut  at  regular  intervals  to 
admit  the  insertion  of  pictures.  These  pic- 
tures may  then  be  selected  to  suit  the  age  of  the 
child  as  well  as  the  season  of  the  year,  and 
after  serving  this  purpose  they  may  be  pasted 
in  cambric  scrap-books,  to  be  kept  as  souvenirs 
of  childhood,  or  passed  along  to  other  children 
for  use  in  their  nurseries. 

For  each  child  there  should  be  a  "growing 
stick":  a  piece  of  wood  twice  the  width  and 
more  than  twice  the  length  of  an  ordinary  yard 
stick,  and  marked  in  much  the  same  way.  At 
the  top  of  each  stick  should  be  the  initials  and 
age  date  of  the  child,  burned  into  the  wood,  and 
the  stick  should  hang  on  a  door  casing  by 
means  of  a  hole  bored  into  the  top.  On  this 
stick  a  comparative  record  of  growth  may  be 
kept,  and  if  the  family  moves  away  these  inter- 
esting records  may  be  taken  along.  It  is  such 
little  things  as  this  which  give  a  homeHke  at- 
mosphere to  the  family  dwelling. 


72       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 
SOME  "DON'ts"  for  THE  AMATEUE  DECORATOE 

On  seeing  the  same  mistakes  repeated  again 
and  again,  not  only  in  the  decoration  of  houses, 
but  in  tea  rooms  and  club  rooms  as  well,  it  is 
evident  that  the  mind  of  the  amateur  decorator 
needs  to  be  impressed  with  a  few  important 
"Don'ts." 

Don't  have  too  many  figured  walls  in  the 
same  house. 

Don't  have  figured  walls  in  two  adjoining 
rooms  unless  they  are  treated  as  one  room  and 
the  same  figure  is  used  in  both. 

Don't  use  figured  hangings  in  a  room  with 
figured  walls. 

Don't  use  more  than  one  design  of  cretonne 
in  the  same  room. 

Don't  use  figured  rugs  and  figured  hang- 
ings in  the  same  room,  even  though  the  walls 
are  plain. 

Don't  hang  pictures  on  a  wall  with  a  dis- 
tinct figure;  have  few  ornaments  and  very 
plain  ones  in  such  a  room. 

Don't  use  figured  "glass"  curtains  and  fig- 
ured overcurtains  at  the  same  window.  One 
or  the  other  should  be  plain. 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  FURNISHING      73 

Don't  use  paper  with  a  large  figure  in  a 
small  room. 

Don't  use  many  different  colors  or  figures 
on  the  walls  of  a  small  house  or  apartment. 
An  effect  of  space  will  be  obtained  by  having 
the  walls  in  all  the  rooms  done  alike  in  some 
plain  light  color.  The  rooms  may  be  made 
distinctive  by,  for  example,  having  a  symmet- 
rical arrangement  of  pictures  in  the  hall;  by 
having  the  walls  of  Hving-room  and  dining- 
room  paneled;  by  using  narrow  borders  in  the 
bedrooms,  and  by  having  decorative  china  on 
a  plate  rack  in  the  kitchen. 

Don't  use  a  drop  ceiling  or  a  wide  border 
in  a  room  that  is  nine  feet  or  less  in  height. 
In  such  a  room  the  best  treatment  is  to  have 
the  walls  plain  up  to  the  angle  of  the  ceiling, 
with  a  simple  molding  to  match  the  rest  of  the 
woodwork. 

Don't  use  blue  in  large  quantities ;  never  on 
the  walls  of  a  north  room. 

Don't  use  striped  or  large  figured  paper  on 
the  walls  of  a  room  with  sloping  ceilings.  Use 
instead,  a  plain  or  small  figured  paper  on  walls 
and  ceiling  both,  having  neither  molding  nor 
border,  where  walls  and  ceiling  meet. 


74        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

Don't  use  much  mission  furniture  in  a  house. 
Stationary  pieces  such  as  desks  and  bookcases 
are  the  least  objectionable  but  pieces  of  furni- 
ture that  must  be  moved  about,  should  be  of 
lighter  weight  and  less  clumsy  to  handle. 


CHAPTER  II 

Lighting  Fixtures 

WHEN  planning  one's  own  home  it  is 
comparatively  easy  to  select  and  place 
the  lighting  fixtures  to  conform  to  the  furnish- 
ings in  each  room  and  to  the  use  to  which  the 
fixture  is  to  be  put,  but  in  houses  built  to  rent, 
the  ignorance  and  lack  of  taste  displayed  in  the 
lighting  fixtures  is  appalling.  Ghastly  domes, 
inverted  bowls,  and  flimsy,  over-decorated  brass 
fixtures  are  the  rule,  so  placed  that  the  light 
from  them  is  not  only  most  unbecoming,  but 
practically  useless.  The  cheaper  the  fixture, 
the  more  ornate  it  is,  as  a  rule. 

Besides  selecting  fixtures  as  simple  and  in- 
conspicuous as  possible,  the  following  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  placing  of  them  in  accordance 
with  the  requirements  of  each  room  may  be  of 
use  to  those  who  have  given  the  subject  httle 
thought. 

In  the  vestibule  it  is  correct  to  have  either  a 
side- wall  or  an  overhead  hght.     The  hall  is  an 

76 


76       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

appropriate  place  for  a  decorative  lantern  of  a 
design  to  harmonize  with  the  general  scheme 
of  the  room.  As  a  lantern  gives  a  softened 
light,  it  is  well  to  have  side  lights  in  addition, 
especially  at  the  head  and  foot  of  the  stairs. 

In  a  living-room,  library  or  music-room, 
there  should  be  baseboard  and  floor  plugs  for 
lamps  to  be  placed  conveniently  on  tables, 
desks,  or  on  the  piano.  Side-wall  lights  are 
usually  sufficient  for  the  general  lighting  of  the 
room.  Overhead  lights  except  in  rooms  with 
very  high  ceilings,  are  not  needed,  and  even  in 
high  rooms  they  are  seldom  used  except  when 
entertaining  in  a  formal  way. 

The  most  attractive  way  to  light  the  dining- 
room  is  to  have  side-wall  lights  for  general 
lighting,  with  candles  on  the  table  at  dinner  at 
night. 

The  kitchen  is  the  one  room  in  a  house  in 
which  a  strong  light  is  desirable  at  all  times.  It 
is  a  laboratory,  and  everything  here  should  be 
thought  out  in  such  a  way  as  to  facilitate  work. 
One  of  the  most  important  things  is  to  have 
plenty  of  light  where  it  is  needed  and  when  it 
is  needed.  There  should  be  a  strong  light  di- 
rectly above  the  sink,  and  one  above  and  at  the 
left  of  the  stove.     There  should  be  another  in 


LIGHTING  FIXTURES  77 

front  of  the  ice  chest  and  one  in  front  of  the 
supply  cupboard. 

In  a  bathroom,  a  light  at  either  side  of  the 
mirror  above  the  washstand  is  all  that  is  re- 
quired, while  in  bedrooms  there  should  be  a 
light  at  either  side  of  each  dressing  table  or 
bureau,  as  well  as  a  candle  or  lamp  on  a  bedside 
table.  Where  electricity  is  used,  there  should 
be  a  light  in  each  closet.  Needless  to  say  every 
flight  of  steps  in  the  house  should  be  well 
lighted. 

Having  passed  through  a  period  in  which 
leaded  glass  domes  were  rampant  above  the 
dining-room  tables  in  nearly  all  rented  houses 
and  apartments,  we  are  now  in  the  midst  of  an 
epidemic  of  inverted  alabaster  bowls,  used  to 
conceal  the  light  and  to  reflect  it  from  the  ceil- 
ing down  into  the  room.  There  are  some 
places  in  which  this  serves  an  admirable  pur- 
pose, as  for  example  in  stores,  railway  stations, 
banks,  and  hotel  corridors,  where  it  is  neces- 
sary to  use  light  in  the  daytime,  and  where  an 
illusion  of  daylight  is  to  be  desired.  In  the 
lighting  of  a  private  house,  there  are  other 
things  of  greater  importance  than  merely  hav- 
ing as  much  light  as  possible.  Light  is  stimu- 
lating to  the  nerves,  and  too  much  of  it  coming 


78        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

from  above  dilates  the  pupils  of  the  eyes  and 
produces  anything  but  the  restful  effect  desired 
at  the  end  of  a  day.  We  shall  make  no  mistake 
if  we  allow  ourselves  in  this  respect  to  be  gov- 
erned by  nature,  by  using  low  lights  after  sun- 
down, with  the  hght  directed  away  from  the 
eyes  and  focused  on  the  book  we  are  reading, 
the  page  we  are  writing,  or  the  table  on  which 
our  meal  is  served. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Hanging  of  Curtains 

FROM  the  fact  that  fully  a  quarter  of  the 
letters  that  come  to  the  Ladies'  Home 
Journal  decorating  department  are  in  refer- 
ence to  curtains,  I  am  led  to  beHeve  that  the  cur- 
tain problem  is  one  of  the  most  puzzling  to 
women  who  are  furnishing  their  homes.  This 
is  due  partly  to  a  change  in  architecture,  which 
means  that  new  and  unfamiUar  types  of  win- 
dows are  used.  Then,  too,  the  manufacturers 
see  to  it  that  fashions  in  curtain  fabrics  change 
as  often  as  possible,  for  there  are  always  women 
who  are  unhappy  unless  everything  they  have 
from  clothes  to  curtains  is  the  dernier  cri. 
Some  one  has  aptly  said  that  the  difference  be- 
tween having  things  in  good  taste  and  having 
them  fashionable  is  that  if  they  are  in  good 
taste  one  will  not  be  ashamed  of  them  next 
year. 

Good  taste  is  governed  by  suitability,  so  that 
if  the  newest  things  in  curtain  materials  hap- 

79 


80       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

pen  to  be  right  for  the  windows  in  question 
there  is  not  the  shghtest  reason  why  they  should 
not  be  selected ;  but  so  long  as  they  are  service- 
able, they  should  be  used,  and  not  be  discarded 
simply  because  something  newer  is  on  the  mar- 
ket. 

The  question  of  suitability  depends  upon  the 
height  of  the  window,  the  view,  the  way  it 
opens,  and  the  way  the  windows  in  adjoining 
rooms  are  curtained.  Some  persons  consider 
the  outside  appearance  of  the  house  when 
choosing  their  curtains,  and  that  is  right  to  a 
certain  extent,  so  long  as  the  charm  of  the  in- 
terior is  not  sacrificed. 

A  window  is  designed  primarily  to  let  in 
light  and  air,  and  is  not  a  thing  to  be  decked 
out  like  an  over-dressed  child,  in  layer  upon 
layer  of  ruffles  and  lace.  The  important  con- 
sideration is  how  to  get  just  the  desired  amount 
of  hght  and  air  from  each  window  in  the  day- 
time, and  how  to  screen  the  room  adequately 
at  night. 

Let  us  consider,  first,  the  glass  in  the  front 
door  of  a  house.  It  usually  contains  the  only 
window  to  the  front  hall,  so  it  should  be  cur- 
tained in  such  a  way  as  to  let  in  as  much  light 
as  possible.    On  the  other  hand,  as  those  who 


THE  HANGING  OF  CURTAINS 


81 


do  their  own  work  know  only  too  well,  it  is  very 
important  to  be  able  to  see  who  is  at  the  door 
without  being  seen  from  the  outside.  These 
considerations  have  led  to  the  use  of  very  thin 
materials  such  as  scrim,  voile,  thin  China  silk. 


r 
r 
r 
r 

L 


3- 


Dif  event  types  of  doors  require  diferent  curtain  treatment 

or  net,  gathered  tightly  between  rods  placed  at 
top  and  bottom  of  the  glass.  A  flat  panel  of 
filet  lace  is  sometimes  stretched  across  the  glass, 
or  a  panel  charmingly  wrought  of  coarse  linen. 


Effective  curtaining  for  the  old-fashioned  type  of  high  toindow 

with  insertions  of  filet  lace.  This  is  the  one 
place  where  a  rather  elaborate  curtain  is  per- 
missible. If  there  is  a  vestibule  door  with 
glass  in  it,  the  curtain  should  match  the  one 
used  in  the  front  door. 


82       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


In  houses  built  from  twenty  to  forty  years 
ago,  the  ceilings,  and  consequently  the  win- 
dows, are  apt  to  be  very  high.  Such  windows 
require  a  special  treatment,  because  it  is  trying 
on  the  eyes  to  have  light  coming  from  above. 
Shades  are  almost  a  necessity,  imless  Dutch 
curtains  are  used,  and  if  the  windows  are  nar- 
row as  well  as  high,  a  lower  look  may  be  ob- 
tained by  the  use  of  overcurtains  and  deep  val- 
ances. The  use  of  a  valance  is  never  a  matter 
of  fashion:  it  is  always  a  question  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  person  who  is  doing  the  decorat- 
ing. A  valance  always  makes  a  window  look 
shorter  and  broader,  and  a  number  of  them 
used  give  to  a  high  room  a  cozier,  lower  appear- 
ance. If  that  is  the  desired  effect,  then  val- 
ances should  be  used  to  produce  it. 

The     "glass     curtains," 
those  that  hang  close  to  the 
glass,    are    usually    hung 
from  a  rod,  the  fixtures  of 
Curtaining  which  does  not  which  are  placcd  iu  the  run 

ke«p  out  the  light  .     .  .     ,  .  . 

01  the  window,  above  the 
shade,  if  a  shade  is  used.  The  materials  for 
these  curtains  are  muslin,  either  ruj03ed  or  plain, 
scrim,  voile,  net,  cheesecloth,  theatrical  scrim, 
tarlton,  thin  hnen,  casement  cloth,  batiste,  un- 


THE  HANGING  OF  CURTAINS 


83 


bleached  cotton  and  plain  China  silk.  There 
are  many  ways  of  hanging  these  curtains. 
They  usually  reach  only  to  the  sill,  but  they 
may  either  hang  straight  down,  drawn  together 
across  the  glass,  or  they  may  be  drawn  apart. 
Sometimes  they  are  caught  back  in  the  center 
with  bands  of  the  same  material,  while  another 
way  is  to  have  a  rod  at  top  and  bottom,  with 
the  material  stretched  between  the  two  rods, 


m^ 


1j 


i 


Three  types  of  over  curtains 

with  or  without  a  narrow  heading  at  each  end, 
and  caught  back  or  not  as  preferred. 

When  but  one  set  of  curtains  is  used  at  a  win- 
dow, any  of  the  ways  just  described  may  be 
used,  or  they  may  be  hung  as  over-curtains  are 
hung. 

Over  curtains  are,  as  a  rule,  used  to  help 
furnish  a  room  by  adding  color  and  variety  to 
the  side  walls,  as  well  as  to  soften  the  light,  and 
to  act  as  shades  when  drawn  together  at  night. 
The  usual  way  to  hang  them  is  to  have  the  fix- 
tures placed  in  the  center  of  the  corner  of  the 


84.       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


upper  outer  casing.  The  rod  should  be  large 
and  strong  enough  to  hold  the  curtains  with- 
out sagging  in  the  center,  but  for  the  ordinary 
window  and  with  the  sort  of  fabrics  used  now- 
adays a  solid  brass  rod  about  three  quarters  of 
an  inch  thick  is  usually  all  that  is  required. 
The  fixtures  should  be  as  inconspicuous  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  curtains  may  be  run 
onto  the  rod  by  means  of  a 
narrow  hem  at  the  top,  or 
they  may  be  suspended 
from  it  by  means  of  small 
brass  rings  placed  about 
three  inches  apart.  If  it  is 
desirable  to  draw  these  cur- 
tains together  at  any  time, 
a  valance,  if  one  is  used, 
should  be  run  onto  a  sepa- 
rate rod,  or  tacked  to  a 
narrow  board  affixed  to  the 
top  of  the  casing.  Other- 
wise the  valance  may  be  set 
in  between  the  two  side  curtains  on  the  same 
rod. 

Sunfast  materials  suitable  to  use  for  over- 
curtains  are  now  to  be  f  oimd  in  a  great  variety 


ifclli 

ill 

41 

i  . 

Decorative         windows 

should  have  plain 

curtains 


One  of  the  best 
features  of  this 
bathroom  is  the 
closet  for  clothes 
hamper  and  linen 
supplies 


y'„j.,.  .ion  bedsteads 
made  sightly  by  covers 
of  chintz  thai  match 
the  window  hangings 


THE  HANGING  OF  CURTAINS         85 

of  colors,  weaves,  and  weights.  The  more  ex- 
pensive, imported  ones  reaUy  do  resist  the 
action  of  the  sun,  and,  as  they  are  very  wide, 
one-half  the  width  is  usually  enough  for  each 
side  curtain.  For  sunny  windows  it  pays  to 
buy  the  best,  if  colored  material  is  to  be  used. 
I  have  tried  inexpensive  domestic  chintzes  and 
it  is  like  throwing  money  away,  for  even  before 
they  are  washed,  they  have  faded  so  that  the 
room  looks  shabby  and  colorless.  On  the 
other  hand  I  have  English  chintz  that  has  been 
in  constant  use  for  ten  years,  and  after  fre-' 
quent  washings,  the  color  is  as  bright  as  the 
day  it  was  bought. 

Linen,  plain  or  figured,  velvet,  velour,  cre- 
tonne, Java  and  India  cottons,  silk,  rep, 
monk's  cloth,  chambray,  denim,  and  countless 
novelty  fabrics,  are  used  for  over-curtains,  their 
suitabiHty  depending  upon  the  room  in  which 
they  are  to  be  used. 

DUTCH    CURTAINS 

These  are  simply  a  separate  pair  of  sash  cur- 
tains at  each  sash  of  each  window,  made  to  draw 
together  by  having  small  brass  rings  at  the  top. 
Suitable  materials  for  these  charming  little  cur- 
tains are  English  casement  cloth,  unbleached 


86       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 


muslin  or  linen,  scrim,  cheesecloth  or  English 
net.  Over-curtains  of  plain-colored  material 
or  of  figured  chintz  may  be  used.  This  sort  of 
curtains  takes  the  place  of  shades  and  gives  a 

very  harmonious  ef- 
fect if  used  in  every 
window  of  the  house. 
Casement  windows 
that  are  so  much  used 
nowadays  give  much 
trouble  on  account  of 
their  very  simphcity. 
It  is  hard  to  believe 
that  shades  may  be  dispensed  with  and  that  one 
set  of  curtains  is  all  that  is  really  required. 
They  should  be  hung  by  small  brass  rings,  so 
that  they  may  easily  be  drawn  together,  and 


Regulate   light   in  high   case- 
ment windows  by  Dutch 
or  double  curtains 


:: 

1 

iiaiHii    iiHifl^i   1 

IB 

18 
g 

■1 

■1 
■1 
■1 
■1 

II     1 
II 

11 

S 

1 

1 

1 

■ 
■ 

■ 

1 

1 

Curtains  of  thick  material  hung  on  rings  take  the  place  of  shades 
with  casement  windows 

thus  take  the  place  of  shades.  If  the  window 
opens  outward,  the  fixtures  for  the  curtain  rods 
should  be  placed  on  the  casing  above  the  win- 
dow, but  if  the  window  opens  into  the  room, 


THE  HANGING  OF  CURTAINS         87 

the  fixtures  should  be  attached  to  the  sash,  so 
that  when  the  window  is  opened,  the  curtain 
comes  with  it. 

French  doors  with  small  panes  of  glass  are 
being  used  more  and  more,  not  only  as  outside 
doors,  in  which  case  the  curtains  for  them  corre- 
spond to  the  curtains  of  the  windows  in  the 
same  room,  but  between  rooms  as  well.  In  this 
case,  it  is  customary  to  have  curtains  of  thin 
material,  stretched  tightly  between  rods  placed 
at  top  and  bottom  of  the  glass.  Portieres  are 
sometimes  used  at  either  side  of  the  doors,  but 
they  are  by  no  means  essential. 

PORTIEBES 

If  there  is  an  open  space  between  rooms,  it  is 
really  necessary  to  have  portieres  in  order  to  in- 

iJin 

The  primary  use  of  portUres  is  to  insure  privacy 

sure  privacy  at  times.  As  that  is  the  chief 
reason  for  using  portieres,  it  stands  to  reason 
that  the  material  used  for  the  purpose  should 
be  of  sufficient  weight,  and  sufficiently  closely 


88        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

woven,  to  act  as  a  complete  screen.  The  ma- 
terials that  are  best  for  these  door  curtains  are: 
rep,  velour,  heavy  linen,  denim,  monk's  cloth, 
and  the  sunfast  fabrics  that  go  under  various 
trade  names.  It  is  hard  for  the  enlightened 
to  believe  that  some  people  still  use  rope  por- 
tieres, but  I  have  been  in  towns  where  such 
things  are  shown  at  the  "general  store"  as  be- 
ing the  "latest  thing  out." 


CHAPTER  IV 

Floor  Coverings 

IN  selecting  floor  coverings  there  are  several 
important  considerations.  The  design  and 
quality  should  be  governed  by  the  treatment  the 
rug  will  necessarily  have. 

HALL 

A  hall  rug  or  carpet  will  receive  hard  wear; 
therefore,  the  quality  should  be  good.  A  small 
all-over  symmetrical  design  in  two  tones  of  one 
color  or  in  several  harmonizing  colors  will  show 
dust  and  wear  less  than  a  plain  surface  would 
do. 

Rag  rug,  machine  made,  3  by  6  feet  .■     .  $1.75 

Hand-woven  rag  rug,  3  by  6  feet  .     .     .  7.50 

Scotch  wool  rug,  3  by  6  feet 4.00 

Hand-woven  wool  rug,  3  by  6  feet  .     .     .  6.00 

East  India  drugget,  3  by  6  feet  ....  8.00 

Saxony,   3   by   6    feet 9.00 

Brussels  rug,  3  bv  6  feet 9.00 

Oriental  rug,  3  by  6  feet 35.00 

LIVING-ROOM 

In  a  living-room  the  floor  covering  will  be 
worn  all  over  equally.     Since  there  is  always  a 

89 


90       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

variety  of  colors  and  forms  in  a  living-room  it 
is  well  to  keep  the  floor  covering  as  plain  as  pos- 
sible. A  rug  with  a  plain  center  and  a  darker 
border  of  the  same  color  is  excellent  in  this 
room,  particularly  if  the  walls  or  hangings  are 
figured.  If  they  are  plain,  the  rug  or  carpet 
may  have  a  small,  indefinite  figure.  If  several 
domestic  rugs  are  used  in  the  same  room  they 
should  be  exactly  alike  in  design  and  color.  If 
small  Oriental  rugs  are  used  they  will,  of 
course,  differ  in  design,  but  they  should  be  as 
nearly  as  possible  in  the  same  tone. 

Good  Living-room  Rugs 

Crex  or  grass  rug,  9  by  12  feet  .  .  .  $8.50 
Rag  rugs,  9  by  12  feet  .  .  .  $10.00  to  45.00 
Scotch  wool  rug,  9  by  12  feet  .     $14.50  to  25.00 

Brussels,   9   by   12   feet 32.75 

Hand-woven  wool  rug,  9  by  12  feet  .  .  36.00 
East  India  drugget,  9  by  12  feet  .     .     .       43.00 

Saxony,  9  bv  12  feet 50.00 

Oriental,   9  'by   12   feet 200.00  up 

DINING-ROOM 

A  dining-room  rug  gets  very  hard  wear  in 
spots.  It  should,  therefore,  be  selected  in  as 
good  quality  as  one  can  afford.  It  is  not  well 
to  have  a  perfectly  plain  rug  in  a  dining-room, 
as  a  plain  surface  shows  crumbs  and  spots  too 
readily.  There  is  no  objection  to  having  a  din- 
ing-room floor  quite  bare,  if  the  floor  is  well  fin- 


FLOOR  COVERINGS  91 

ished.  Inlaid  linoleum  also  makes  an  excellent 
floor  covering  for  a  dining-room  that  receives 
very  hard  usage. 

The  best  coverings  for  this  room  are : 

Crex  ingrain  nig,  9  by  12  feet  ....      $8.50 
Rag  rug,  9  by  12  feet  ....     $10.00  to  45.00 

Brussels,   9   by    12    feet 32.75 

East  India  drugget,  9  by  12  feet  .     .     .       36.00 

Saxony,  9  by  12  feet 50.00 

Oriental,   9   by   12   feet 200.00 

BEDROOM 

On  account  of  the  lint  which  accumulates  in 
bedrooms  it  is  a  good  plan  to  keep  the  space 
imder  the  beds  bare,  so  that  it  may  be  dusted 
every  day.  Small  rugs  laid  where  most  needed 
are  more  hygienic  in  sleeping-rooms  than  are 
large  rugs  and  carpets.  Plain  Chinese  mat- 
ting makes  a  clean  floor  covering  when  the 
boards  are  not  in  good  condition.  Although  it 
is  in  good  taste  to  use  a  carpet  or  one  large  rug 
in  a  bedroom,  the  preference  lies  among  the 
following: 

Small  rag  rugs,  3  by  6  feet $1.75 

Oval  braided  rag  rugs,  3  by  6  feet   .     .  2.50 

East  India  drugget,  3  by  6  feet  .     .     .  8.00 

Saxony,  3  by  6   feet 8.00 

Oriental,  3  by  6  feet 35.00 

Oval  rag  rugs  have  become  very  popular 
lately,  and  when  carefully  designed  and  made 


92        THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

of  either  woolen  or  cotton  rags  in  fast  colors, 
they  are  artistic,  serviceable,  washable,  and 
suitable  to  use  in  bedrooms,  bathrooms,  and 
kitchens  of  any  house.  In  simple  houses,  par- 
ticularly those  furnished  with  Colonial  furni- 
ture, these  rugs  are  often  used  even  in  the  hall, 
living-room  and  dining-room,  the  size  being 
governed  to  suit  the  need.  One  of  the  chief 
things  to  recommend  them  is  the  fact  that  they 
may  be  made  at  home  without  the  use  of  a  loom ; 
a  child  may  even  be  easily  taught  to  do  certain 
processes  of  the  work,  and  to  make  tiny  ones 
for  her  dolls'  house. 

The  rug  in  the  lower  photograph  facing 
page  41,  I  made  of  deep  cream  and  turquoise 
blue  cotton  rags,  cut  in  one-inch  strips  the 
width  of  the  material.  Each  strip  I  folded 
under  a  half  inch  on  each  side,  then  pressed 
with  a  hot  iron.  This  left  a  strip  one-half  inch 
wide,  with  the  rough  side  kept  underneath 
when  braiding.  It  is  easier  to  braid  if  the 
strands  are  not  too  long,  so  I  always  join  mine 
as  I  go  along,  working  the  colors  in  to  carry 
out  the  design  I  have  in  mind.  In  this  rug,  I 
began  with  the  blue,  and  braided  enough  to 
form  the  oval  center,  sewing  the  sides  of  the 
braid  together  with  linen  thread  on  the  wrong 


FLOOR  COVERINGS  93 

side,  and  holding  the  work  rather  loose,  so  as 
to  avoid  imevenness  when  the  rug  is  laid  out  on 
the  floor.  As  soon  as  the  blue  center  was  large 
enough,  I  left  out  one  strand  of  blue,  and  sub- 
stituted one  of  cream,  going  round  once,  then 
another  strand  of  blue  was  omitted,  and  a  sec- 
ond of  cream,  was  used.  After  going  around 
the  rug  once  more,  the  third  strand  of  blue  was 
left  out,  and  the  braid  became  solid  cream  color. 

After  carrying  this  around  the  rug,  the  whole 
process  was  reversed,  until  solid  blue  was 
reached  again,  and  so  on  back  to  cream,  until 
the  rug  was  the  required  size.  The  center  and 
the  outer  stripe  ought  to  be  the  same  color. 

When  my  rug  was  done,  I  decorated  it  with 
roses  and  green  leaves  made  of  strands  of  cot- 
ton crepe  in  two  shades  of  pink  and  two  of 
gray  green. 


CHAPTER  V 

Tablewabe  and  Silvee 

So  many  things  have  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration in  the  selection  of  tableware, 
that  in  giving  lists  of  what  seem  to  me  the 
essential  things  to  buy  at  the  outset  I  will  at  the 
same  time  tell  my  reasons  for  choosing  as  I  do. 

To  my  mind,  one  of  the  charms  of  a  meal  is 
to  have  a  variety  in  the  dishes  from  which  the 
different  courses  are  served.  For  this  reason, 
I  do  not  advise  getting  a  whole  set  of  one  pat- 
tern. My  way  in  the  long  run  will  not  be  any 
more  expensive,  for  there  are  certain  things 
which  must  of  necessity  match  exactly,  and 
these  I  select  from  an  open  stock  pattern  that 
may  always  be  found,  when  it  is  necessary  to 
replace  anything  that  is  broken. 

To  be  specific,  I  will  give  a  list  of  my  own 
tableware  that  is  adequate.  The  numbers  of 
each,  I  will  omit,  as  each  person's  requirements 
differ  so  much,  but  in  starting  out,  there  are 
many  things,  in  dishes,  silver  and  glass,  which 

04 


TABLEWARE  AND  SILVER  95 

may  as  well  be  bought  in  half  dozen  as  in  dozen 
lots. 

Plain  green  Sedgi  ware:  Dinner  plates, 
luncheon  plates  (used  also  for  breakfast  and 
salad),  bread  and  butter  plates,  coffee  cups 
and  saucers,  hot  milk  jug,  to  be  used  also  for 
chocolate,  a  small  platter  to  be  used  for  ome- 
lettes, eggs,  or  other  breakfast  dishes.  These 
are  the  only  open  stock  dishes  I  have. 

Soup  plates  of  decorated  German  ware,  to  be 
used  also  for  cereals. 

Coalport  teapot,  and  cups  and  saucers  in  In- 
dian Tree  design. 

Desert  plates  of  Doulton  semi-porcelain,  to 
be  used  alone  or  under  glass  plates.  Design  of 
birds  and  flowers. 

Deep  green  salad  bowl  of  plain  Itahan  pot- 
tery. 

Vinegar  and  oil  cruets  of  French  decorated 
china. 

After-dinner  coffee  cups  of  Minton  ware,  in 
white  and  green. 

Bouillon  cups  of  Limoges  in  white  and  green. 

Three  casseroles  of  plain  green  Chinese  pot- 
tery with  covers. 

At  first  glance  I  may  seem  to  have  a  hetero- 
geneous assortment"  of  makes  and  designs  in 


96       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

my  dishes,  but  when  in  use,  no  two  designs  ever 
appear  on  the  table  at  the  same  time,  while  any- 
one of  the  figured  dishes  looks  well  with  the 
plain  green  ware.  For  example,  when  I  serve 
salad,  I  like  to  make  it  on  the  table,  using  my 


A  salad  howl  of  'plain  green  pottery,  Sedgi  plates  of  the  same 

shade  of  green  and  figured  cruets  give  variety 

to  the  meal 

Italian  bowl  of  plain  green  pottery.  The 
Sedgi  plates  are  the  same  shade  of  green,  and 
the  figured  oil  and  vinegar  cruets  simply  give  a 
variety  which  is  pleasing  after  the  main  course 
that  was  served  from  all  green  and  silver  dishes. 

GLASSWARE 

The  excellent  reproductions  in  pressed  glass 
of  Colonial  designs,  make  it  possible  to  use 
glass  that  is  rather  heavy  and  very  inexpensive, 
as  a  substitute  for  china.  The  modem  cut 
glass  that  one  usually  sees,  has  little  to  recom- 


TABLEWARE  AND  SILVER  97 

mend  it,  for  the  designs  are  poor  as  a  rule,  so 
this  pressed  glass  is  really  to  be  preferred  to  cut 
glass,  unless  one  is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  some 
of  the  genuine  old  English  glass  which  was  cut 
in  simple  designs.  This  would  be  too  precious 
to  use  commonly,  so  that  even  by  these  fortu- 
nate ones,  the  pressed  glass  would  be  desirable 
for  everyday  use. 

GLASS,    COLONIAL   PRESSED 

Va  dozen  tumblers 

Vg  dozen  sherbet  glasses 

V2  dozen  dessert  plates 

y^  dozen  finger  bowls 

Sugar  bowl  and  cream  pitcher 

Dish  for  lemons 

Dish  for  nuts 

Pitcher      

Candlesticks 

Vinegar  and  oil  cruets 

Berry  dish 

14  dozen  iced  tea  glasses 

y^  dozen  individual  salt  cellars 

1  large  plate 

1  large  cream  pitcher 

3  plates  for  cheese,  butter,  etc 

Pepper  shakers  for  use  in  making  salad  .... 
1/2  aozen  coasters  to  be  used  under  iced  tea  glasses 

SILVERWARE 

There  is  no  objection  to  the  use  of  plated 
silver,  so  long  as  the  design  is  good  and  the 
plate  is  heavy  enough  to  give  good  service.  In 
fact,  even  though  it  is  thought  best  to  get  solid 
flat  silver,  there  are  other  articles  of  daily  use 


98       THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

that  it  seems  to  me  wise,  in  the  saving  from 
breakage  alone,  to  select  in  plated  silver  at  the 
outset,  having  the  design  conform  to  that  of  the 
flat  silver. 

1  dozen  teaspoons 

14  dozen  dessertspoons  (used  for  soup  also)   . 

4     tablespoons 

1  dozen    dessert    forks    (used    also   for   breakfast, 
lunch,  salad,  pie,  fruit,  etc.) 

1/2  dozen  dessert   knives 

1/2  dozen  table  knives  with  steel  blades  and  ivoroid 

handles        

Carving  set  to  match  steel  knives 

V2  dozen  table  forks 

2  fancy  spoons  for  jellies,  bonbons,  etc 

2f  fancy  forks  for  olives,  lemon,  etc 

14  dozen  after-dinner  coffee  spoons 

V2  dozen  bouillon  spoons . 

1/2  dozen  butter  spreaders 

1   gravy  ladle 

Saltspoon        

Sugar  tongs 

PLATED  WABE 

Covered  vegetable  dish   (cover  may  be  used  as  a 

dish  by  removing  handle) 

Platter /.     .     . 

Pitcher 

CoflFee  pot 

Toast  rack 

Small  tray 

Sandwich  plate . 

Silver  bowl , 

Egg  steamer  ....'. 

Bread  or  fruit  tray 

Tea  strainer 

Candlesticks . 

In  addition  to  the  lists  given,  there  are  cer- 
tain little  things  that  may  be  used  on  the  table 


TABLEWARE  AND  SILVER  99 

for  the  sake  of  variety  and  diversion.  For  ex- 
ample, bone  spoons  for  eggs  will  not  tarnish  as 
silver  ones  will.  Then  instead  of  pepper 
shakers,  grinders  may  be  used  in  order  that  the 
real  flavor  of  black  pepper  may  be  obtained  by 
grinding  the  pepper  corns  directly  onto  the 
food  that  is  to  be  seasoned. 

For  serving  French  rolls,  muffins,  and  bis- 
cuit, I  like  to  use  an  oval  wicker  basket  with  a 
napkin  in  it.  For  fruit  in  the  center  of  the 
table  I  sometimes  use  a  charming  oval  basket  of 
wood,  painted  white  and  sparingly  decorated 
with  green. 

Teakwood  stands  are  attractive  to  use  in- 
stead of  tiles  for  holding  a  hot  tea  or  coffee  pot, 
as  well  as  to  hold  a  bowl  of  flowers  in  the  center 
of  the  table. 

An  egg  coddler  of  Britannia  ware  or  plate  is 
a  useful  as  well  as  an  ornamental  device,  for 
after  pouring  boiling  water  over  the  eggs,  they 
are  placed  in  the  coddler  onto  the  table  where 
after  about  five  minutes,  during  which  time  one 
may  attend  to  toast,  and  other  things  with  a 
free  mind,  they  are  done  to  a  turn,  and  may 
then  be  opened  by  the  man  of  the  house  by  the 
use  of  an  egg  opener,  which  he  is  sure  to  ap- 
preciate. 


100     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

One  of  the  chief  delights  in  visiting  my 
friends,  and  also  in  traveling  in  foreign  coun- 
tries is  to  see  the  ways  others  have  devised  to 
make  their  tables  interesting  and  individual, 
without  departing  from  the  only  hide-bound 
requisites:  those  of  order  and  absolute  cleanli- 
ness. A  bare  table  of  plain  wood,  set  with 
crude  pottery  dishes  and  coarse  unbleached 
linen  will  be  picturesque  and  inviting  if  things 
are  spotlessly  clean  and  symmetrically  ar- 
ranged. 

TABLE  LINEN 

This  brings  me  to  the  consideration  of  linen 
for  use  on  the  table.  Here  I  take  exception 
to  the  use  of  large  tablecloths  of  pure  white 
damask,  for  general  use.  It  is  well  to  have  at 
least  two  of  them  in  reserve,  for  there  are  times 
when  nothing  else  does  so  well,  but  for  every- 
day use  I  like  better  small  cloths  of  creamy  un- 
bleached linen,  heavy  but  rather  coarse  in  tex- 
ture. Arranging  a  table  is  to  me  like  paint- 
ing a  picture,  and  I  prefer  a  cream  to  a  staring 
white  background  for  most  of  my  table  ar- 
rangements. It  is  the  tendency  nowadays  for 
table  decorations  to  be  more  individual  and  less 
stereotyped  and  conventional  than  formerly. 


TABLEWARE  AND  SILVER  101 

LINEN 

Many  young  women  wish  to  know  the  neces- 
sary amount  of  table  and  bed  linen  to  provide 
when  preparing  for  their  first  housekeeping. 
The  list  given  is  meant  for  persons  with  aver- 
age incomes.  The  quality  should  be  the  best 
that  one  can  possibly  afford.  The  breakfast 
runners  and  napkins  are  to  be  made  by  hand  of 
unbleached  linen,  such  as  one  buys  for  dish 
towels.  With  insets  of  imitation  filet  lace 
these  are  very  attractive,  durable  and  easy  to 
launder. 

No  list  has  been  given  for  kitchen  linens,  but 
it  is  well  to  have  a  supply  of  linen  tea  towels 
and  roller  towels.  Floor  cloths,  pot  holders 
and  cheesecloth  dusters  should  also  be  provided 
in  abundance. 

Table  Linen 

2  dozen  32-inch  napkins,  at  $3.00  a  dozen 

2  dozen  12-inch  luncheon  napkins,  at  $4.50  a  dozen 

(Luncheon  napkins  at  $1.00  a  dozen  if  made  by  hand  of 
coarse  linen) 
2  two-yard-square  tablecloths,  at  $1.25  a  yard 
Two-yard  square  asbestos  or  cotton  flannel  pad  for  table 
V2  dozen  square  teacloths 
1/2  dozen  table  runners  for  breakfast 
1  dozen  white  fringed  napkins 
4  tray  covers 

1  dozen  finger-bowl  doilies 
1  dozen  plate  doilies 


102     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 
Bed  Linen 

4  sheets  (extra  long)  for  each  bed 

4  pillow  cases  for  each  pillow 

1  mattress  protector  for  each  bed,  with  one  extra  one  in  the 

house 
3  spreads  for  each  bed. 

1  down  or  lamb's-wool  comforter  for  each  bed 
1  pair  of  blankets  for  each  bed,  with  2  extra  pairs  in  the 

house 
l^  dozen  plain  huckaback  towels  for  each  person 
3  bath  towels  for  each  person 
%  dozen  washcloths  for  each  person 
1  bath  mat  in  the  bathroom,  2  in  reserve 


CHAPTER  VI 

PiCTUEES  AND   OtHER  OrNAMENTS 

THERE  is  no  subject  pertaining  to  the 
house  upon  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  give 
suggestions  as  the  subject  of  pictures,  and  yet 
there  is  nothing  that  can  so  easily  detract  from 
the  beauty  of  a  room  as  pictures  that  are  im- 
wisely  selected  or  badly  hung. 

THE   HANGING  OF  PICTURES 

Large  pictures  should  be  hung  by  two  paral- 
lel wires  from  the  picture  molding.  The  cen- 
ter of  the  picture  should  be  on  the  level  of  the 
average  eye.  The  wires  should  be  as  near  the 
color  of  the  wall  as  possible. 

Small  pictures  should  be  hung  somewhat 
lower  than  larger  ones.  They  may  be  hung 
in  groups  if  the  wall  space  is  large,  or  singly  if 
the  space  is  small.  A  small  picture  may  be 
suspended  by  a  brass  ring  screwed  into  the  cen- 
ter of  the  top  of  frame  or  by  an  invisible  wire. 

103 


104     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

In  either  case  it  hangs  from  a  tack  driven  into 
the  wall. 

There  are  a  number  of  Eastern  picture  deal- 
ers who,  for  a  small  sum,  will  send  illustrated 
catalogues  of  their  pictures  from  which  selec- 
tions may  be  made.  Some  dealers  will  even 
send  pictures  on  approval  to  those  who  can 
furnish  some  satisfactory  business  reference. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  excuse  for  using  any  but 
good  pictures  nowadays.  Color  reproductions 
are  now  within  the  reach  of  the  most  modest 
purse  and  in  selecting  reproductions  of  paint- 
ings it  is  better  to  have  them  in  color  than  in 
black  and  white. 

If  one  especially  prefers  black-and-white  pic- 
tures it  is  better  to  get  photographs  of  good 
specimens  of  architecture,  sculpture  or  scenery, 
etchings,  reproductions  of  woodcuts  or  of  black- 
and-white  drawings. 

While  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  give 
a  list  of  suitable  pictures  to  use  in  the  different 
rooms  of  a  house,  a  few  general  suggestions 
may  prove  helpful. 

In  a  hall  with  plain  walls,  have  pictures  such 
as  good  decorative  portraits,  colored  architec- 
tural drawings  or  Japanese  prints.    If  the 


PICTURES  AND  OTHER  ORNAMENTS     105 

hall  has  a  figured  paper  it  is  best  to  have  a 
mirror  and  possibly  a  good  plaster  cast  in  ivory 
finish  as  the  only  wall  decoration. 

In  the  living-room  the  greatest  restraint 
must  be  exercised  or  the  restfulness,  so  impor- 
tant to  that  room,  will  be  sacrificed.  If  the 
wall  spaces  really  need  a  decorative  treatment 
select  pictures  of  which  no  member  of  the 
family  will  be  likely  to  tire.  Reproductions  in 
color  of  famous  portraits  of  men,  women  or 
children  are  apt  to  prove  satisfactory.  Repro- 
ductions of  landscapes,  allegorical  pictures,  or 
mural  decorations  are  also  good.  The  frames 
may  be  in  dull  gold  or  plain  wood  to  correspond 
with  the  woodwork  or  furniture  of  the  room. 

If  one  has  family  portraits  which  have  real 
artistic  merit,  aside  from  association,  the  din- 
ing-room is  an  excellent  place  for  them. 
While  it  is  correct  to  hang  pictures  in  a  dining- 
room  it  is  well  to  make  this  room  distinctive  by 
using  on  the  walls  decorative  china,  brass,  cop- 
per or  pewter  and  by  having  the  windows  filled 
with  growing  bulbs  or  flowering  plants. 

The  bedroom  is  the  right  place  for  personal 
things  such  as  photographs,  diplomas,  senti- 
mental pictures,  religious  pictures  and  family 


106     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

portraits,  which  have  associations  but  no  deco- 
rative value. 

ORNAMENTS 

The  rage  for  bric-a-brac  is  a  thing  of  the 
past.  Select  the  necessary  small  furnishings 
of  a  home  with  an  eye  to  beauty  as  well  as  util- 
ity and  few  other  ornaments  will  be  needed. 

HALL 

For  umbrellas  select  a  plain  pottery  jar  to 
harmonize  with  the  color  scheme.  It  will  cost 
no  more  than  an  ordinary  wooden  umbrella 
rack. 

The  frame  for  the  hall  mirror  may  be  orna- 
mental. Colonial  designs  are  good  as  are  also 
hand-carved  frames  done  in  dull  gold.  Carved 
oak  frames  are  also  good  when  they  harmonize 
with  the  other  furnishings. 

On  the  hall  table  have  a  brass  card  tray  if  the 
hall  hardware  is  in  brass;  a  silver  one  if  the 
hardware  is  nickel  or  black  iron.  On  the 
table  have  also  a  pencil  and  a  leather-covered 
pad. 

The  hall  lantern  or  wall  sconces  may  also 
be  selected  in  harmony  with  other  furnishings 
and  have  distinct  decorative  value. 


PICTURES  AND  OTHER  ORNAMENTS     lOT 
LIVING-EOOM 

In  the  living-room  the  following  articles  are 
indispensable  and  each  one  should  be  carefully- 
selected  : 

A  reading  lamp  high  enough  to  throw  the 
light  properly  when  one  is  reading.  The  best 
reading  lamp  is  a  double  student  lamp  in  brass, 
with  plain  sage  green  glass  shades  and  duplex 
burners.  A  good  lamp  can  be  made  by  using 
any  piece  of  pottery  of  the  right  shape  and  size 
fitted  with  an  oil  font  or  electric  burner  and 
with  a  shade  of  plain  silk  or  of  Japanese  rice 
paper. 

Book  ends  for  the  table  are  now  to  be  foimd 
made  of  wood,  brass,  plaster,  tapestry  and 
bronze. 

Library  shears  and  paper-cutter  in  a  double 
sheath  of  leather  or  brass. 

Clock  in  a  simple,  plain  design  of  wood, 
crystal,  French  gilt  or  leather. 

Matchbox. 

Desk  appointments. 

Waste-basket. 

Dull  pottery  vases  for  flowers. 

Terra-cotta  window-boxes  for  plants. 

Wall  sconces  or  electric  sidelights. 


108     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

Woodbox  or  basket. 

Andirons. 

Fire  irons. 

Cushions. 

Ash  receiver. 

Sewing-box  or  basket. 

Table-cover  in  Hnen,  brocade,  rep,  velours  or 
sunfast  fabric  in  plain  color,  the  edges  bound 
with  old  gold  gimp. 

The  piano  may  be  left  bare,  but  if  a  cover  is 
used  for  an  upright  piano  it  should  fit  the  top 
of  the  piano  exactly,  and  should  be  made  of 
the  same  material  as  the  table-cover.  The 
piano  is  to  be  treated  as  a  musical  instrument 
rather  than  as  a  piece  of  furniture.  No  orna- 
ments are  required  on  a  piano,  but  if  any  are 
used  they  should  be  low  and  heavy  so  that  they 
will  not  shake  when  the  instrument  is  played. 
A  handsome  portfolio  for  music  may  lie  on  the 
piano  with  a  low  jar  of  flowers  at  either  end 
of  the  top  of  the  piano  in  case  it  is  an  upright. 

MANTEL  ORNAMENTS 

There  is  no  fixed  way  for  arranging  orna- 
ments on  a  mantelpiece,  but  it  is  well  to  have 
the  arrangement  as  dignified  and  symmetrical 
as  possible,    A  candlestick  at  either  end  with 


A f- 


© 

«) 

® 

PICTURES  AND  OTHER  ORNAMENTS     109 

a  simple  clock  or  vase  in  the  center  is  a  good  ar- 
rangement, although  there  is  no  objection  to 
using  a  pair  of 
vases  or  small 
Tanagra  figures 
to  balance  the 
spaces  left  be- 
tween the  other 
ornaments.  The 
mantel  should 
never  be  cluttered 
with  unf ramed 
photographs,  cal- 
endars or  other 
undecorative  ar- 
ticles. When  in 
doubt  use  flowers 
in  plain  bowls  or 
vases,  where  you  feel  the  need  of  an  ornament. 
They  are  always  in  good  taste  and  when  not 
procurable  there  are  substitutes  to  be  found 
in  the  woods  at  all  times  of  the  year. 


Mantel  treatment  in  sleeping  room 
of  old  Colonial  house 


DINING-ROOM 


Decorative  china  for  walls  or  plate-rail. 
If  there  is  a  china  closet,  fill  it  with  china 
which  really  adds  to  the  beauty  of  the  room. 


110     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

Keep  other  china  and  glass  in  the  pantry  ex- 
cept at  mealtime. 

Plants  or  bulbs  growing  in  the  windows. 

Plant,  fruit  or  flowers  for  the  center  of  the 
dining-table. 

Silver  for  the  sideboard. 

Candlesticks  in  glass  or  silver  to  be  used  on 
the  table  at  night  and  kept  on  the  serving-table 
or  buffet  during  the  day. 

KITCHEN 

Decorative  china,  shining  copper  pots  or 
pans,  enameled  kitchen  utensils,  something 
green  growing  in  the  windows,  curtains  of  fig- 
ured chintz,  and  linoleum  in  attractive  design 
are  the  ornaments  of  a  well-planned  kitchen. 

BEDROOMS 

Very  few  ornaments  are  necessary  in  bed- 
rooms. Besides  the  regular  toilet  articles, 
there  should  always  be  a  matchbox  con- 
veniently placed,  a  waste-basket,  a  sewing- 
basket,  a  desk  set,  a  lamp  and  candlesticks. 
There  should  also  be  a  water  pitcher  and  drink- 
ing-glass  on  a  tray  on  the  bedside  table. 


CHAPTER  VII 

System  in  the  Household 

NO  system  of  housekeeping  is  good  that 
does  not  take  into  consideration  the  hab- 
its of  the  family  in  question,  therefore  the  best 
way  to  do  is  for  each  housekeeper  to  make  out 
a  system  of  her  own  to  fit  conditions  which  it 
is  impossible  to  change.  After  doing  all  she 
can  to  perfect  her  own  system,  she  will  do  well 
to  consult  a  book  written  by  a  housekeeping 
expert,  in  order  to  compare  notes  and  get 
added  suggestions. 

Each  member  of  the  household  should  be 
given  some  part  of  the  daily  routine  for  which 
he  is  held  responsible,  in  order  that  the  woman 
who  does  her  own  work  may  do  it  well  and  yet 
have  time  left  for  other  things.  Not  only 
should  each  one  assume  some  definite  part  of 
the  work,  but  he  should  be  considerate  in  not 
making  work  for  another  to  do.  This  is  where 
good  breeding  and  character  count  for  much. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  test  of  a  Christian 

111 


112     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

is  the  way  he  leaves  the  washstand  after  using 
it.  The  bathroom  should  be  put  in  good  order 
once  a  day,  and  each  person  after  using  it 
should  leave  it  in  as  neat  a  condition  as  when 
he  found  it ;  tub  and  basin  clean,  towels  folded 
or  put  into  a  hamper  if  soiled. 

When  children  have  to  go  very  early  to 
school,  it  is  not  possible  for  them  to  take  en- 
tire charge  of  their  rooms,  but  they  may  be 
early  taught  to  hang  up  their  night  clothes,  to 
air  their  bed  clothes,  open  the  windows  and 
leave  their  rooms  in  good  order. 

Conveniences  should  be  provided  at  the  out- 
set to  make  it  possible  for  each  one  to  do  his 
part  with  the  least  possible  confusion.  There 
should  be  a  shelf  somewhere  with  a  roll  of 
wrapping  paper  on  it  and  a  ball  of  stout  twine 
near  at  hand.  In  a  drawer,  it  is  well  to  keep 
supplies  such  as  parafiin  paper,  plain  white 
paper  napkins,  paper  plates  and  cups  in  readi- 
ness for  an  impromptu  picnic  lunch. 

A  tool  chest  may  easily  be  improvised  from 
a  shallow  box  and  hung  against  the  wall  in  a 
convenient  place.  It  should  contain  a  ham- 
mer, hatchet,  screw-driver,  screws,  tacks,  as- 
sorted nails,  screw-hooks,  picture-wire,  picture 
hooks,  et  cetera. 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  HOUSEHOLD       113 

A  large  bottle  of  ink  should  be  kept  on  hand 
from  which  smaller  bottles  may  be  filled  when 
needed.  Library  paste  is  easily  made  and  a 
quantity  of  that,  too,  should  be  kept  on  the  sup- 
ply shelf. 

It  will  be  found  very  convenient  to  have  a 
place  on  the  second  floor  to  keep  a  broom,  dust- 
pan, brush,  dusters  and  cleaning  fluids,  to  save 
having  to  carry  them  up  and  downstairs. 

Near  the  telephone  there  should  always  be 
a  pad  and  pencil  for  taking  messages.  If  the 
house  is  in  the  country  where  trains  and  street 
cars  have  to  be  used,  it  is  well  to  have  a  sched- 
ule posted  somewhere,  so  that  even  a  guest  may 
consult  it  conveniently. 

As  pins  are  constantly  being  needed,  it  is 
convenient  to  have  a  pincushion  in  every  room. 

In  every  living-room  there  should  be  some- 
thing provided  for  newspapers  when  not  being 
read. 

If  there  are  smokers  in  the  family,  there 
should  always  be  a  supply  of  safety  matches 
and  ash  trays  kept  in  a  convenient  place. 

Above  all,  should  there  be  a  place  some- 
where in  each  house  where  one  may  always 
find  writing  materials,  a  clean  blotter  and  a 
clear  space  on  which  to  write.    A  well-ap- 


114     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

pointed  desk  is  the  ideal  thing,  but  failing  that, 
a  table  will  do  very  well  so  long  as  the  chair 
on  which  the  writer  sits  is  a  proper  height.  A 
pen  tray  containing  both  pointed  and  stub 
pens,  a  writing  pad  with  envelopes  to  match, 
clean  blotters,  a  calendar  and  a  book  of  stamps, 
are  the  only  requirements.  It  should  be  some 
one's  regular  duty  to  see  that  such  a  writing 
table  is  always  in  order,  the  same  person  mak- 
ing herself  responsible  for  keeping  magazines 
in  order  on  the  table  and  for  disposing  of  them 
along  with  newspapers  after  they  have  been 
used.  These  may  seem  like  trivial  things,  but 
in  the  house  with  no  servant,  a  little  co-opera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  various  members  of 
the  family  is  necessary  in  order  that  all  details 
may  be  so  looked  after  that  a  pleasant,  orderly, 
smoothly  running  home  may  be  the  result. 

Whether  a  woman  does  all  of  her  work  or 
employs  a  servant  to  do  it,  it  is  important  to 
go  through  the  work  often  enough  to  stand- 
ardize each  process,  so  as  to  know  how  long 
it  takes,  before  making  out  a  definite  schedule 
to  be  followed  each  day.  Such  a  schedule 
should  then  be  typewritten  and  framed  under 
glass  to  be  hung  in  a  convenient  place  on  the 
kitchen  wall  for  reference. 


SYSTEM  IN  THE  HOUSEHOLD       115 

(sample)  schedule 

WORK  FOR  EVERY  DAY  WORK  FOR  SPECIAL  DAYS 

6  A.  M.  MONDAY 

Get  ^n  Wash  clothes 

j),ggg  Scrub  kitchen,   laundry,  bath- 

Air  bedroom  room  and  cellar  stairs 

Put    living-room    and  dining-  Dampen  and  fold  clotheg 

room  in  order 
Set  table 
Prepare  breakfast 

7.30  A.  M. 

Serve  breakfast 

Clear  table  fPTTvanAV 

Wash  and  scald  dishes  TUi!-SL»AX 

Make  out  menus  for  the  day  Iron  clothes 

Do  ordering 

Make  beds 

Clean  bathroom 

Dust  rooms 

Empty  waste  baskets 

Water  plants 

Put  away  dishes  .n™i-,»»Ti,«-rv.-.T 

Arrange  kitchen  WEDNESDAY 

Mend  and  put  away  clothes 
9.30  A.  M.  Sew 

Do  special  work  for  the  day 

12.30  p.  M. 

Set  table  for  lunch 

1   P.M. 

Serve  lunch  THURSDAY 

Slf*Ji,*,^^!?„-  tow^  !*  ^„«»=<,o^  Clean  silver,  brasses,   mirroni 

Brush  under  table  if  necessary  >  windowa 

Prepare  vegetables  and  dessert  ^'^'^  winaows 

for  dinner 
Wash  dishes 
Scald  dishes 

Empty  kitchen  garbage  paQ 
Scald  garbage  pail 
Put  away  dishes 
Sweep  kitchen  FRIDAY 

DrPRR  for  tbft  aftamoon  General  cleaning 

i^ress  tor  tne  aitemoon  ^jlean    one    room    each    week 

g  p  j(  thoroughly 

Set  table 
Prepare  dinner 

6.30  p.  M. 
Serve  dinner 

Clear  table  _  .  .-^^^ .  ^ 

Wash,    scald    and    put    aw»7  SATURDAY 

dishes  Baking 

Beet  Preparations  for  Sunday 


116     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

At  one  side  of  this  schedule  should  hang  a 
pad  with  cord  and  pencil  attached  upon  which 
may  be  written  the  needed  supplies,  and  at  the 
other  side  should  be  hung  the  menus  for  the 
day.  A  calendar  and  a  clock  on  this  same 
wall  will  concentrate  all  information  as  to  what 
is  to  be  done  and  when. 

A  shelf  for  cook  books  and  card  catalogue, 
a  hook  for  supply  slips  and  a  scale  with  which 
to  verify  weights  are  conveniences  that  all 
kitchens  should  have. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Ugly  Things  Improved  or  the  Art  of 
Making  Use  of  What  Is  at  Hand 

BY  using  imagination  and  ingenuity,  many 
things  about  the  house  may  be  so  trans- 
formed as  to  be  not  only  more  useful  but  really 
good-looking  as  well. 

An  unsightly  chair  of  which  the  padding  is 
good  but  the  surface  worn  and  faded  may  be 
concealed  by  a  slip  cover  of  washable  material 
which  need  not  be  expensive.  These  slip 
covers  are  not  difficult  to  make :  simply  lay  the 
material  on  the  different  surfaces  of  the  chair 
with  the  pattern  wrong  side  out,  but  so  placed 
that  the  design  best  suits  the  spaces,  allowing 
plenty  of  the  material  around  the  seat  and  arms 
to  tuck  in  so  that  the  cover  may  be  slipped  off 
easily.  Baste  or  pin  the  edges  together,  sew 
on  the  machine,  then  cut  close  to  the  seam. 
Now  turn  on  the  right  side  and  make  a  French 
seam  around  all  of  the  edges.     This  strength- 

117 


118     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

ens  them  and  acts  as  a  finish  as  well.  The 
whole  cover  should  be  made  rather  loose  to  al- 
low for  shrinking. 

The  same  method  of  making  slip  covers  may 
be  applied  in  making  them  for  the  ends  of  iron 
beds  that  have  become  scuffed  from  hard  usage. 
Chintz  or  any  plain  washable  material  that 
harmonizes  with  the  room  may  be  used,  so  long 
as  it  has  sufficient  body  to  conceal  the  frame  of 
the  bed.  The  spread  should  be  of  the  same 
material  as  the  slip  covers,  and  there  should  be 
a  valance  of  the  same  around  the  exposed  sides 
of  the  bed. 

In  a  bedroom  which  lacked  a  closet,  a  very 
roomy  one  was  improvised  by  having  a  board 
placed  across  an  otherwise  useless  space.  It 
rested  on  wooden  cleats  placed  six  feet  above 
the  floor.  Between  the  cleats  a  pole  was  placed 
from  which  innumerable  waists,  skirts,  and 
coats  were  hung.  Below  the  waists,  there  was 
room  for  several  small  packing  boxes.  To 
hide  all  this,  a  curtain  of  chintz  was  suspended 
by  brass  rings  from  a  brass  rod  placed  under 
the  front  edge  of  the  board.  To  hide  this  rod 
as  well  as  the  rings  of  the  curtain,  a  narrow 
ruffle  of  the  chintz  was  tacked  to  the  edge  of 
the  board.     On  top  of  the  shelf  were  two 


A  day  bed  that  takes  up  little  space  and  conceals  another 
single  bed  by  its  valance 


A  complete  kitchen  that  measures  30x40  inches.    A  white 
board  covers  the  stove  at  the  left 


Two  views  of  a  roomy  closet  that  utilizes  otherwise  useless 

space     The  dress  and  hat  boxes  on  the  shelf  are  covered 

with  the  same  chiiit::  as  the  curtains  are  made  of 


ADAPTING  WHAT  YOU  HAVE        119 

dress  boxes  and  two  hat  boxes,  the  fronts  of 
which  were  covered  with  the  chintz. 

A  similar  space  to  that  described  above,  but 
in  the  adjoining  room,  was  utilized  in  this  way: 
being  a  six-foot  space  it  held  comfortably  the 
springs  and  mattress  of  a  single  bed.  These 
were  held  by  wooden  braces,  placed  high 
enough  to  allow  a  low  cot  on  castors  to  be  run 
underneath.  In  this  way  two  beds  were  made 
to  occupy  the  space  of  one  during  the  day- 
time when  this  room  was  used  as  a  sitting- 
room.  To  hide  the  lower  bed,  there  was  a  val- 
ance of  material  to  match  the  day  cover  of  the 
upper  bed.  The  valance  was  run  onto  a  brass 
curtain  rod  which  fitted  into  fixtures  at  either 
end. 

Old  white  inside  shutters  that  were  about 
to  be  removed  suggested  to  me  a  way  of  using 
a  very  small  corner  in  our  apartment.  I 
asked  permission  of  the  landlord  to  use  two 
of  the  long  and  six  of  the  short  shutters.  From 
these  I  made  designs  which  a  carpenter  readily 
carried  out  for  me  at  a  very  small  cost.  For 
the  comer  space  I  had  seven  triangles  of  wood 
cut  to  form  the  top  and  six  shelves  of  a  little 
cupboard.  The  two  long  shutters  made  pan- 
eled doors  for  it  and  at  the  top  I  had  a  simple 


120     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL'  HOME 

Colonial  ornament  of  wood  as  a  finish.  This 
afforded  space  enough  for  glass,  china,  and 
silver,  which  I  used  occasionally  when  enter- 
taining in  this  room. 

Two  of  the  short  blinds  I  used  to  enclose 
the  lower  shelves  of  our  open  bookcase.  On 
these  enclosed  shelves  we  kept  magazines, 
kodak  books,  and  pamphlets. 

The  other  four  short  shutters  I  used  to  en- 
close shelves  under  a  deep-set  window  in  our 
tiny  dining-room.  Here  they  protected  glass 
and  china  that  were  in  everyday  use  from  dust. 

Removing  the  upper  shelf  from  a  rather 
high,  ugly  mission  magazine  stand,  and  giving 
it  several  coats  of  ivory  colored  paint,  made  it 
into  an  attractive  bedside  table  for  the  guest 
room.  There  was  space  on  top  for  the  light 
and  a  glass  of  water,  the  next  shelf  had  room 
for  books,  while  below  there  were  still  other 
shelves  behind  a  little  door. 

An  ugly  oak  chiffonier  became  a  charming 
piece  of  furniture  after  it  was  painted  ivory 
white  and  decorated  with  baskets  of  gaily  col- 
ored flowers.  The  flimsy  handles  were  re- 
moved and  simple  glass  ones  used  instead. 
The  mirror,  too,  was  painted,  and  with  the  ugly 
ornaments  removed,  was  hung  on  the  wall  above 


ADAPTING  WHAT  YOU  HAVE        121 

a  dressing  table  made  by  placing  a  board  of 
the  right  length  on  top  of  the  sewing  machine. 
A  valance  was  tacked  aromid  the  board,  which 
concealed  the  sewing  machine  completely  when 
not  in  use. 

And  so  one  could  go  on  indefinitely,  but  I 
hope  I  have  given  enough  examples  to  illus- 


-»  m^ 


"*      iSMri'       • 


if^fe^ 


-     A     - 


*«iS&' 


Showing  what  can  be  done  with  an  ugly  oak  chifonier 

trate  the  point  which  I  am  so  anxious  to  make 
in  this  book :  that  brains  may  be  made  to  take 
the  place  of  money,  and  that  the  result  of  using 
them  in  connection  with  what  one  already  has 
gives  as  a  rule  a  home  with  individuality  and 
charm  which  those  that  are  all  cut  after  the 
same  pattern  lack  utterly. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Plants,  Flowers  and  Feuits  in  House 
Decoration 

THE  return  in  pleasure  for  a  very  little 
money  spent  for  plants,  bulbs,  flowers, 
or  fruit  for  house  decoration  is  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  the  investment.  The  important 
thing  is  to  be  on  the  lookout  for  something  that 
will  give  the  touch  to  a  room  that  corresponds 
to  the  high  hght  in  a  picture. 

English  ivy  is  a  satisfactory  thing  to  use  as 
it  is  inexpensive,  requires  httle  care  and  no  sun. 
It  lends  itself  delightfully  to  all  sorts  of  ar- 
rangements, but  is  especially  good  when 
trained  over  a  trellis.  Bulbs  also  give  excellent 
results,  and  for  those  who  enjoy  flowers  but 
do  not  care  to  spend  much  time  over  them, 
nothing  is  so  desirable  as  paper  white  narcissus. 
The  bulbs  cost  only  thirty  cents  a  dozen  and 
even  three  placed  in  a  bowl  with  enough  peb- 
bles to  hold  them  straight  and  firm  will  give  a 
charming  result.     The  only  care  they  need  is 

122 


GROWING  THINGS  AS  DECORATIONS     123 

to  have  water  about  half  the  depth  of  the  bulb. 

Hyacinths,  jonquils,  and  pale  pink  Murillo 
tulips  are  lovely,  but  they  are  usually  grown 
in  pots  of  earth  and  require  a  cold  dark  room 
in  which  to  form  their  roots  before  being 
brought  to  the  light. 

Of  potted  plants,  I  have  always  been  very 
fond  of  old-fashioned  fuchsias,  which  are  deco- 
rative and  satisfactory.  Geraniums,  too,  are 
good  for  simple  houses.  I  usually  use  bright 
red  ones  in  the  kitchen  and  salmon  pink  ones 
in  bedrooms  where  the  color  is  right.  Chinese 
primroses  are  also  good  for  certain  rooms;  as 
for  cyclamen,  that  is  about  the  best  of  all,  for  it 
blooms  incessantly  from  fall  till  spring. 

In  the  woods  it  is  possible  at  all  times  of 
the  year  to  find  things  that  will  last  a  long 
time  as  house  decorations,  so  that  those  who 
have  no  means  of  visiting  greenhouses  are  not 
on  that  account  barred  from  really  beautiful 
things  for  decorative  purposes.  In  the  fall 
there  are  the  autumn  leaves,  and  colored  ber- 
ries, as  well  as  various  kinds  of  evergreen,  in- 
cluding juniper  with  its  blue  berries.  Bay- 
berry  and  laurel  are  lovely,  as  are  pussy  wil- 
lows, and  wild  fruit  blossoms  in  the  spring. 

When  taking  a  walk  in  the  country,  I  was 


124     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

one  day  excited  on  seeing  a  low  tree  with  very 
black  scraggly  branches  and  black  berries.  I 
had  been  on  the  lookout  for  something  decora- 
tive for  the  mantelpiece  of  my  room,  the  hang- 
ings of  which  were  of  a  gaily  flowered  chintz, 
but  the  rest  of  the  room  all  black  and  white. 
Cutting  some  of  the  black  branches,  I  hurried 
home  with  them,  eager  to  get  them  into  a  tall 
white  vase  and  on  the  mantel,  where  they  were 
indeed  just  right  between  two  silhouettes, 
themselves  silhouetted  against  the  plain  white 
of  the  paneling. 

Some  artists  make  a  point  of  having  in  their 
gardens  certain  flowers  which  when  dried  will 
keep  indefinitely,  and  take  the  place  of  fresh 
flowers  during  the  winter  months.  Among 
these  are  rodanthe,  helichrysum,  and  the  irides- 
cent pods  of  "honesty"  which  are  very  Japanese 
in  effect,  and  exactly  right  for  certain  rooms. 

For  a  table  decoration,  fruit  has  always  ap- 
pealed to  me  strongly,  for  there  is  nothing 
more  fascinating  than  to  arrange  a  basket  with 
differently  colored  fruits,  just  as  if  one  were 
weaving  a  tapestry  or  a  design  in  cross-stitch. 
The  shape  as  well  as  the  colors  must  be  right. 
As  a  thanksgiving  decoration,  nothing  is  so 
symbolic  as  such  a  basket  of  fruit  on  the  table, 


Ivy    trained    on    a 

trellis   gives   color 

and    design    to    a 

plain  wall 


The  panel  under 
the  window  at  the 
right,  when  raised 
level  with  the  sill, 
forms  the  dining- 
iable 


5"^ 


«  r- 


t-. 


GROWING  THINGS  AS  DECORATIONS     125 

with  garlands  of  it  after  the  manner  of  Delia 
Robbia  used  appropriately  on  the  wall  or  over 
a  mantel. 

HOW  TO  TEIM  THE  CHRISTMAS  TBEE  MOST 
EFFECTIVELY 

After  trimming  Christmas  trees  for  many 
years,  I  have  finally  developed  a  system  of  pro- 
cedure which  simplifies  the  process  and  gives  a 
really  exquisite  result.  The  same  method  may 
be  apphed  to  any  sized  tree,  from  the  full 
grown  ones  to  the  tiny  ones  used  as  table  dec- 
orations. 

I  keep  the  colors  all  white,  green,  and  silver, 
and  have  nothing  on  the  tree  that  is  to  be  re- 
moved until  the  tree  is  entirely  dismantled. 
The  first  thing  is  to  select  a  good,  full,  sym- 
metrical tree  with  a  standard  of  wood,  or  of 
iron,  that  will  keep  it  firm  and  straight.  If 
electricity  is  available,  electric  bulbs  of  white 
frosted  glass  are  the  first  ornaments  to  be  dis- 
tributed through  the  branches.  Next  comes 
the  artificial  asbestos  snow;  the  sticky  kind 
that  may  be  placed  in  around  the  stem  of  the 
tree,  and  stuck  to  the  needles  to  give  the  illu- 
sion of  a  recent  snowfall.  To  complete  the 
illusion,  hang  clear  glass  icicles  from  the  tips 


126     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

of  some  of  the  branches.  Then  the  silver  orna- 
ments are  hung,  the  strings  of  small  balls  and 
tinsel  being  hung  perpendicularly.  From  the 
apex  of  the  tree  is  now  suspended  a  shimmer- 
ing veil  of  "Lametta,"  which  is  made  of  thin 
strands  of  silver  thread.  The  latest  discovery 
I  have  made  and  the  thing  which  distinguishes 
my  trees  from  any  I  have  ever  seen,  is  called 
"Engellocken"  or  Angels'  Hair.  It  is  made 
of  spun  glass,  and  when  hung  from  the  tip  of 
the  tree,  and  spread  out  as  thinly  as  possible 
over  the  entire  tree,  it  gives  to  it  a  mysterious, 
fairy-like  appearance  that  looks  like  frosted 
cobwebs.  If  candles  are  to  be  used,  they 
should  be  put  on  last,  and  for  small  trees  I  use 
the  tiny  white  wax  ones,  held  by  small  white 
rosebuds  such  as  are  sold  for  birthday  cakes. 
To  finish  the  top  of  the  tree,  a  white  Santa 
Claus,  holding  a  white  candle,  may  be  placed 
at  the  apex,  to  cover  the  ends  of  the  Lametta 
and  Engellocken. 

A  sheet  should  be  spread  around  the  base 
of  the  tree  to  cover  the  standard,  and  on  it 
should  be  laid  all  of  the  presents  that  can  be 
done  up  in  white  paper.  Over  everything 
there  should  be  a  generous  sprinkling  of  mica 
snowflakes. 


GROWING  THINGS  AS  DECORATIONS     127 


WINDOW-LIGHTING  ON  CHRISTMAS  EVE 

Having  described  the  way  to  trim  the  Christ- 
mas tree,  I  cannot  end  this  book  without  de- 
scribing also  the  ceremony  which  I  first  saw 
while  living  on  Beacon  Hill  in  Boston,  the 
place  where  this  impressive  old-world  custom 
was    first    introduced.     Like    the    municipal 


.,'   ' , .  i;  n  £     •  '•', 


v'v"-«VV'  /  vl>.-''/  <'V*  ••»J 

n    n    rt    Ft-  r    n-n  I 


TA«  liffhts  in  the  window  on  Christmas  Eve 

Christmas  tree,  the  ceremony  has  been  adopted 
by  various  communities,  but  it  is  so  beautiful, 
and  so  simple,  that  it  ought  to  become  a  general 
custom.  The  accompanying  cuts  show  the 
usual  way  to  arrange  the  candles,  so  that  any 
one  who  has  even  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of 
carpentry  can  make  the  wooden  strips  that 
support  them.     There  is  little  danger  if  cur- 


128     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

tains  are  either  taken  down,  or  drawn  well  back 
and  carefully  watched. 

Conditions  were  perfect  the  first  time  I  saw 
the  window-lighting,  for  it  began  to  snow  hard 
the  morning  before  Christmas,  the  great  wet 
flakes  clinging  to  the  branches  of  the  trees. 
Before  night  it  turned  much  colder,  a  full  moon 
and  brilliant  stars  showing  in  a  deep  blue  sky, 
making  a  wonderful  setting  for  what  we  were 
about  to  see. 

Not  realizing  that  it  was  so  late,  I  was 
startled  by  the  sound  of  children's  voices  out- 
side. Standing  in  the  snow  beneath  the  lighted 
windows  of  the  quaint  old  brick  house  opposite, 
were  three  little  girls  singing  "The  First  Noel.'* 
As  far  as  we  could  see  up  the  hill,  every  win- 
dow of  every  house  was  lighted  with  candles. 
We  simply  had  to  see  more,  and  as  we  walked 
we  found  the  hill  deserted  and  absolutely  still, 
but  a  picture  to  remember  always  the  lights 
from  thousands  of  candles  reflected  by  the 
snowy  street. 

In  one  window  was  a  Delia  Robbia  cast  of 
the  madonna  and  child  in  colored  porcelain,  a 
tall  candle  burning  at  either  side  of  it.  At  the 
top  of  the  hill  we  stopped  to  admire  an  old 
Bullfinch  house,  every  window  of  which  held  a 


GROWING  THINGS  AS  DECORATIONS     129 

three-branched  candle  stick  with  tall  wax 
tapers.  Off  in  the  distance  we  could  hear  a 
group  of  men  and  girls  singing  that  lovely  old 
carol,  "Come  Rest  Ye  Merry  Gentlemen,  Let 
Nothing  Ye  Dismay."  On  they  came  trudg- 
ing past  us  through  the  snow,  leaving  us 
thrilled  by  their  simple  music. 

We  then  passed  through  Walnut  Street  and 
down  into  Chestnut,  where  the  snow-laden 
branches  of  the  trees  formed  an  archway  across 
that  picturesque  thoroughfare,  on  either  side 
of  which  the  windows  stripped  of  their  dra- 
peries gave  fascinating  glimpses  of  Colonial 
interiors.  Each  house  had  an  individual  ar- 
rangement of  candles,  but  no  matter  how  sim- 
ple or  how  elaborate  the  grouping,  the  effect 
was  always  charming.  Outside,  the  doors 
with  their  fan-lights  were  outlined  with  ropes 
of  laurel,  bunches  of  holly  or  wreaths  of  it 
hanging  from  the  brass  knockers. 

As  we  turned  back  into  Mount  Vernon 
Street,  the  air  was  vibrating  with  carols  rung 
out  by  the  bells  in  the  Church  of  the  Advent. 
The  streets  were  filling  with  people,  come  to 
Hsten  to  the  caroUers  who  made  a  quaint  pic- 
ture reading  their  words  by  the  light  of  pierced 
brass  lanterns. 


130     THE  EFFECTIVE  SMALL  HOME 

In  Louisberg  Square  they  stood  beneath  the 
windows  of  Saint  Margaret's  Hospital,  sing- 
ing in  Latin,  the  "Adeste  Fideles,"  the  Sisters 
in  their  black  robes  looking  down  from  behind 
rows  of  lighted  candles. 

I  couldn't  help  thinking  how  sweet  it  would 
be  if  every  one,  after  the  rush  of  shopping,  the 
sending  off  of  packages,  the  frenzied  last- 
minute  gift  making,  could  get  back  to  the  real 
meaning  of  Christmas  by  placing  lighted 
candles  in  their  windows,  as  a  symbol  of  the  life 
of  the  One  whose  birthday  none  ever  forgets: 
if  everywhere  on  that  one  night  of  all  the  year 
people  could  meet  in  the  quiet,  friendly  way 
they  met  that  night  on  the  Hill,  all  alike  af- 
fected by  the  universal  language  of  music  and 
beauty. 


c-     •  c* 


'  g:  ^^fi  o 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  I 

To  Clean  Porcelain 

Rub  the  inside  of  the  bath  tub,  sink  or  basin  with 
a  cloth  dampened  with  kerosene.  For  bad  stains, 
use  chloride  of  lime,  dissolved  in  water. 

To  Lacquer  Brass 

Candlesticks,  sconces,  ornaments  or  hardware 
made  of  brass  may  be  kept  permanently  bright  by 
first  having  them  clean,  bright  and  dry,  then,  with  a 
soft  brush  apply  a  thin  coat  of  white  shellac,  cover- 
ing every  bit  of  the  surface.  The  work  must  be  done 
quickly  as  shellac  dries  almost  immediately. 

To  Clean  Lacquered  Brass 

Dust  the  article  to  be  cleaned;  rub  with  sweet  oil. 
Rub  off  the  oil  with  a  soft  cloth  and  polish  with  a  dry 
duster.     A  brass  bed  should  be  cleaned  in  this  way. 

To  Relacquer  a  Brass  Bedstead 

When  some  of  the  lacquer  has  rubbed  off  of  a 
brass  bedstead,  the  rest  may  be  removed  with  wood 
alcohol  or  any  commercial  paint  and  varnish  re- 
mover. If  the  metal  is  solid  brass  it  will  require  the 
same  treatment  as  that  given  above,  but  if  the  metal 

proves  to  be  iron,  instead  of  white  shellac  a  "Brass 

133 


134  APPENDIX 

Lacquer"  will  have  to  be  used  in  order  to  give  the 
original  finish.  In  any  case  the  work  will  be  easier 
if  the  metal  is  heated  slightly  before  the  lacquer  is 
applied. 

To  Remove  Wax  from  Candlesticks 

Plunge  them  into  hot  water  and  allow  them  to  re- 
main until  the  wax  is  soft. 

How  to  Lay  the  Dust  When  Sweeping  Carpets  or 
Rugs  or  Beating  Furniture 
Lacking  a  vacuum  cleaner,  it  is  possible  to  sweep 
without  raising  much  dust  if  the  broom  is  dipped  in 
hot  water  into  which  a  little  turpentine  or  ammonia 
has  been  poured.  Dry  salt,  damp  tea  leaves  or 
pieces  of  paper  wrung  out  of  ammonia  water  may 
also  be  used  for  the  same  purpose.  When  obliged 
to  beat  upholstered  furniture  without  removing  it  to 
the  out  of  doors,  cover  it  over  with  a  dampened  sheet, 
then  beat  it  and  the  dust  will  adhere  to  the  sheet. 

To  Clean  Smoky  Ceilings 

Mix  starch  and  water  to  a  paste.  Go  over  the 
entire  ceiling  with  this  even  though  only  a  small 
portion  of  it  seems  to  be  black.  Leave  it  until  it 
is  perfectly  dry,  then  brush  it  off.  The  paste  must 
be  applied  with  a  pad  of  flannel. 

To  Clean  Chimneys 

Sprinkle  two  ounces  of  powdered  sulphur  on  a 
bright  fire.  This  will  remove  much  of  the  soot  from 
the  chimney,  but  will  not  take  the  place  of  the  thor- 
ough cleaning  that  is  required  from  time  to  time. 


APPENDIX  185 

To  Clean  Flam  China  Matting 

Take  out  of  doors  on  a  fine  day ;  remove  the  dust ; 
wash  with  bran  water,  using  no  soap  as  that  turns 
the  matting  yellow.  Rinse  with  cold  water;  dry  as 
thoroughly  as  possible  with  dry  cloths,  then  hang  on 
a  line  in  the  sun  until  perfectly  dry. 

To  Clean  Chintz,  Cretonne  and  Tapestry 

When  the  covering  is  not  to  be  removed,  the  safest 
thing  to  use  is  dry  bran  rubbed  well  into  the  surface 
with  a  flannel. 

To  Wash  Cretonnes  and  Chintzes 

Use  lukewarm  water  in  which  a  little  bran  has 
been  steeped ;  no  soap.  Rinse  in  cold  water  and  dry 
in  a  room  where  there  is  neither  fire  nor  sunshine. 
Iron  on  the  wrong  side. 

To  Clean  Curtain  Rings  and  Hooks  Made  of  Metal 

If  very  much  discolored,  boil  in  a  mixture  of  one 
part  water  to  two  of  vinegar.  Rinse  in  cold  water 
and  dry. 

To  Run  a  Brass  Rod  Easily  Through  the  Kem  of  a 
Curtain 
Place  a  thimble  on  the  end  of  the  rod. 

To  Prepare  a  Cloth  for  Polishing  Silver 

Boil  soft  cotton  or  linen  cloths  in  milk  in  which 
an  ounce  of  hartshorn  powder  has  been  added,  for 
five  minutes.  Remove  the  cloths:  plunge  them  into 
cold  water;  wring  out  well  and  dry  as  quickly  as 
possible.  These  cloths  may  be  used  for  keeping  sil- 
ver bright  without  cleaning  it  very  often. 


136  APPENDIX 

To  Keep  Earthenware,  Glassware  and  Lamp  Chim- 
neys from  Breaking  Easily 
Place  them  when  new  in  a  kettle  of  cold  water. 
Bring  the  water  to  a  boil  very  gradually.     Remove 
the  articles,  and  let  them  cool  gradually. 

To  Clean  Linoleum 

Add  a  little  kerosene  to  the  water  with  which  it  is 
washed:  it  helps  to  preserve  the  linoleum  besides  giv- 
ing it  a  slight  polish. 

Home-made  Linoleum 

Cover  the  floor  with  newspapers,  then  stretch  over 
it  and  tack  down  securely,  either  plain  burlap  or 
old  brussels  carpet  wrong  side  up.  Go  over  this 
with  a  coat  of  thick  flour  paste ;  let  dry ;  repeat,  then 
paint  over  the  surface  with  one  or  two  coats  of  deck 
paint,  finishing  with  a  coat  of  good  varnish.  Before 
using  the  varnish,  the  floor  may  be  marked  off  in 
three-inch  squares  with  black  paint,  to  look  like  tiles. 

Home-made  Glue  for  Use  in  Upholstering  Furniture 
Get  sheets  of  fish  glue,  and  melt  it  after  breaking 
it  into  small  pieces  into  the  top  of  a  double  boiler. 
Add  a  very  little  water. 

To  Make  a  Bustles s  Duster 

Dampen  a  square  of  cheesecloth  with  kerosene. 
Place  in  a  covered  tin  box  for  twenty-four  hours. 
By  that  time  the  oil  will  be  evenly  distributed. 

A  Good  Furniture  Polish 

Put  into  a  bottle  equal  parts  of  turpentine,  boiled 
linseed  oil  and  cider  vinegar.     Keep  well   corked. 


APPENDIX  137 

Shake  well  before  using.  Apply  a  little  on  a  soft 
cloth,  to  any  plain  or  varnished  furniture  or  wood- 
work. 

To  Remove  White  Stains  Made  hy  Heat  or  Watery 
from  Varnished  Surfaces 

1.  Apply  olive  oil  and  salt.  Leave  for  half  an 
hour,  then  wipe  dry  with  a  soft  cloth. 

2.  Wring  a  cloth  out  of  boiling  water.  Place  on 
the  spot  for  an  instant:  remove  and  rub  till  dry  with 
a  soft  dry  cloth. 

3.  Alcohol  or  camphor  applied  quickly,  then 
rubbed  off. 

To  Remove  Grease  Spots  from  Plain  Floor  Boards 

Scrub  well  with  a  solution  of  unslaked  lime,  soda 
and  water. 

To  Remove  Grease  Stains  from  Wall  Paper,  or  Tex- 
tile Fabrics 
Cover  the  spots  thickly  with  French  chalk.  Place 
a  clean  piece  of  blotting  paper  over  it,  and  run  a 
warm  iron  across  it,  repeating  the  process  until  the 
spot  disappears. 

Leather:  to  Clean;  Polish;  and  to  Restore  Its  Sur- 
face 
Equal  parts  of  warm  water  and  vinegar  may  be 
used  to  clean  leather.     Apply  with  a  sponge  and  dry 
with  a  soft  cloth. 

To  Restore  the  Surface  to  Leather 

Mix  equal  parts  of  boiled  linseed  oil  and  white 
shellac.     Apply  very  quickly  with  a  soft  brush. 


138  APPENDIX 

To  Polish  Leather 

Rub  the  surface  sparingly  with  the  white  of  an 
egg  mixed  with  a  teaspoonful  of  turpentine. 

To  Clean  the  Mica  Linings  of  Candleshades 

Use  vinegar  slightly  diluted  with  water.  If  very 
black  soak  them  for  a  while  in  the  solution. 

To  Clean  Painted  Woodwork 

Peel,  wash  and  grate  a  half  dozen  potatoes.  Put 
them  into  a  pail  of  water.  Let  stand  half  an  hour, 
strain  and  apply  to  the  woodwork  with  flannel.  For 
white  woodwork  and  mirrors  use  whiting  in  the  wa- 
ter. 

To  Remove  Paint  from  Glass 

Use  sal  soda  dissolved  in  hot  water. 
To  Remove  Hard  OH  from  Glass 

Use  powdered  pumice  stone. 

To  Remove  Fly  Specks  from  Gilt  Picture  Frames^ 
Chandeliers^  Etc. 

Dissolve  an  ounce  of  borax  in  a  pint  of  boiling 
water.  When  cold,  sponge  the  soiled  places  with  the 
liquid,  using  only  enough  to  moisten  the  spots.  Re- 
peat several  times.     Dry  gently. 

To  Remove  Rust  from  Stoves 

About  once  in  two  weeks,  go  over  the  black  part 
of  the  stove  with  kerosene,  doing  the  work  at  night 
so  as  to  get  rid  of  the  odor  before  morning. 


APPENDIX  139 

To  Remove  Tarnish  from  Nickel 

Make  a  paste  of  powdered  pumice  stone  and  sweet 
oil.  Rub  the  nickel  with  this,  and  polish  with  a  soft 
cloth. 

To  Make  a  Good  Silver  Polish 

Shred  a  bar  of  good  soap.  Add  water  and  heat 
slowly  until  the  soap  is  dissolved.  When  cool  it  will 
form  a  jelly.  To  this  add  enough  whiting  to  make  a 
cream.  This  will  keep  a  long  time,  and  may  be  used 
on  a  flannel  for  polishing  silver.  Rinse  the  silver 
in  warm  water  and  polish  with  a  dry  flannel  or 
chamois. 

To  Clean  Windows  and  Mirrors 

A  little  wood  alcohol  added  to  cold  water  gives  a 
brilliant  polish  without  the  use  of  soap. 

To  Set  Colors  in  Cotton  Fabrics 

Dissolve  one  ounce  of  sugar  of  lead  in  eight  quarts 
of  water.  Soak  the  article  over  night  in  this  solu- 
tion. It  has  a  tendency  to  darken  reds,  yellows  and 
blues,  and  to  lighten  greens.  As  the  sugar  of  lead 
is  a  poison  it  should  be  kept  out  of  reach  of  chil- 
dren, and  should  be  emptied  down  a  drain. 

To  Tint  Cotton  Fabrics  Ecru  or  Cream  Color 

Try  with  small  pieces  of  the  material  dipped  in  a 
weak  solution  of  coffee.  Dry,  and  when  the  proper 
shade  is  obtained,  dip  the  material  into  the  coff^ee 
solution.     Wring  out  and  dry. 


140  APPENDIX 

To  Remove  Old  Paper  from  Walls 

Pull  off  all  that  is  loose.  Saturate  the  rest  with 
warm  water,  and  pull  or  scrape  it  off,  repeating  the 
operation  as  often  as  is  necessary. 

To  Prepare  Whitewashed  or  Calcimined  Walls  for 
Papering 
Brush  the  walls  with  a  weak  solution  of  vinegar. 
When  dry,  brush  off  the  loose  lime,  and  give  the 
walls  a  thin  coat  of  glue  sizing. 

To  Repair  Wall  Paper 

When  papering  a  room,  save  some  of  the  paper 
and  let  it  fade  slightly  by  putting  it  in  the  sun. 
When  marred  spots  show  on  the  wall,  it  is  then  pos- 
sible to  tear  off  pieces  of  the  reserve  paper,  and  paste 
them  over  the  spots,  so  that  they  will  never  be  no- 
ticed. 

To  Make  Library  Paste 

Dissolve  a  teaspoonful  of  powdered  alum  in  a  quart 
of  water.  Sift  through  the  fingers  into  the  water 
enough  flour  to  give  the  consistency  of  cream.  Add 
a  saltspoonful  of  powdered  resin  and  a  few  drops  of 
oil  of  cloves.  Have  a  half  pint  of  boiling  water  in 
a  saucepan  on  the  fire.  Into  this,  strain  the  above 
mixture,  and  stir  it  until  it  is  like  a  thick  gruel. 
It  must  not  boil.  Remove  it  from  the  fire  and  put 
it  away  in  covered  jars. 

To  Clean  Piano  Keys 

1.  Rub  them  with  split  lemon  followed  by  salt. 

2.  Rub  them  with  alcohol. 


APPENDIX  141 

To  Remove  Old  Paint 

There  are  many  paint  and  varnish  removers  on 
the  market,  but  as  they  are  expensive,  the  follow- 
ing recipes  for  making  them  are  given: 

1.  Mix  three  pounds  of  quicklime  slaked  in  water 
with  one  pound  of  pearl  ash.  When  this  mixture  is 
of  the  consistency  of  cream  it  may  be  applied  with 
a  brush  and  allowed  to  remain  a  day.  The  old  paint 
may  then  be  readily  scraped  off. 

2.  One  pound  of  sal  soda  dissolved  in  a  gallon  of 
boiling  water  and  applied  with  a  brush  will  soften 
paint  so  that  it  may  be  scraped  off.  As  both  of  these 
mixtures  are  very  caustic,  gloves  and  old  clothes 
should  be  worn  when  doing  the  work. 

To  Keep  Paint  Brushes  Clean 

When  brushes  are  being  used  from  day  to  day, 
stand  them  in  water;  when  finished  with  them  for  a 
time,  wash  them  with  strong  soap  and  warm  water 
and  rinse  them  in  kerosene. 

To  Remove  Black  Stains  Caused  hy  Water  from  a 
Hardwood  Floor 
Pour  a  strong  solution  of  oxalic  acid  on  the  spot. 
Let  it  remain  until  the  stain  disappears.  The  acid 
wUl  also  remove  the  color  from  the  wood,  so  this 
must  be  restored  by  the  use  of  a  stain  before  the 
polish  is  applied. 

Encaustic  No.  1 

A  Polish  for  Furniture,  Floors  and  Marble 

One  pound  of  beeswax;  one  pint  of  turpentine. 
Melt  the  wax  over  gentle  heat  in   a  water  bath. 


142  APPENDIX 

When  soft,  remove  from  the  fire  and  beat  in  the 
turpentine. 

To  Polish  a  Floor 

Choose  a  clear  day  for  the  work.  Sweep  and 
wipe  the  floor  free  from  dust.  Have  the  encaustic 
warm  and  soft.  Dip  a  cloth  into  it  and  go  over  the 
entire  floor  with  it,  renewing  the  cloth  when  neces- 
sary. Do  not  put  it  on  thick.  Let  the  encaustic 
remain  on  the  floor  for  at  least  an  hour.  Now  pol- 
ish with  a  weighted  brush  until  a  soft  luster  comes. 
If  a  high  polish  is  desired,  pin  a  piece  of  old  carpet 
or  flannel  cloth  to  the  bottom  of  the  brush  and  go 
over  the  floor  with  this.  This  method  may  be  used 
with  stained,  varnished  or  waxed  floors. 

Encaustic  No.  2 

To  use  in  cleaning  and  polishing  a  floor  at  the  same 
time.  It  must  not  be  used  on  stained  floors  as  it 
would  remove  the  color. 

5  quarts  of  boiling  water 

4  ounces  laundry  soap 

9,  ounces  sal  soda 

1  pound  beeswax 

Cut  soap  and  wax  fine;  put  them  into  the  water 
and  place  on  the  stove.  Stir  often  until  dissolved, 
then  add  soda  and  remove  from  the  fire.  Stir  until 
cool,  then  put  away  in  a  covered  vessel.  This  pol- 
ish when  heated  and  mixed  with  its  own  volume  of 
turpentine  may  be  used  on  floors,  tiles,  marbles  and 
bricks.  It  will  also  remove  ink  from  varnished  sur- 
faces. 


APPENDIX  143 

To  Oil  Floors  Properly 

1.  Have  the  room  free  from  dust. 

2.  Dampen  a  woolen  cloth  with  a  good  quality  of 
boiled  linseed  oil  mixed  with  one  third  its  volume  of 
turpentine.  Rub  with  the  grain  of  the  wood.  If 
the  floors  are  new,  put  the  mixture  on  hot  so  that 
the  boards  will  become  saturated  with  it. 

8.  Polish  the  oiled  surface  with  a  dry  woolen  cloth 
so  that  no  surface  oil  remains. 

Treatment  of  Furniture  That  Has  Been  Faded  by 
Exposure  to  Sun  or  Hot  Air 

If  a  piece  of  furniture  stands  near  a  window,  reg- 
ister or  other  heating  apparatus,  the  oil  will  be 
evaporated  from  the  surface  and  it  will  become  faded 
and  full  of  fine  lines.  To  remedy  this,  oil  the  sur- 
face with  boiled  linseed  oil,  rubbing  it  in  well.  Sev- 
eral applications  may  be  necessary  before  the  trou- 
ble is  entirely  overcome.  Pieces  of  furniture  thus 
exposed  should  have  this  treatment  now  and  then  to 
avoid  this  result. 

To  Bleach  Fabrics 

It  is  often  an  advantage  to  remove  the  color  and 
design  from  some  cotton  material  which  has  faded, 
and  this  may  be  done  by  dipping  the  material  into 
Javelle  water,  then  rinsing  it  in  clear  water. 

Javelle  Water 

This  may  be  purchased  at  a  drug  store,  but  it 

may  be  made  at  home  by  dissolving  a  quarter  of  a 

-  pound  of  chloride  of  lime  in  a  quart  of  water ;  let 


144.  APPENDIX 

it  settle,  and  pour  off  the  clear  liquid.     Add  to  this 
a  pint  of  liquid  soda. 

Liquid  Soda 

Put  a  pound  of  sal  soda  and  a  quart  of  water  in 
a  saucepan  on  the  fire.  When  the  water  boils  the 
soda  will  be  dissolved.  Let  cool,  then  put  into  bot- 
tles for  future  use.  This  is  used  for  whitening 
clothes  by  adding  a  tablespoonful  to  a  boiler  of  wa- 
ter.    It  is  also  good  for  cleaning  the  sink. 


APPENDIX  II 
RECIPES  AND  SUGGESTIONS 

r  I IHE  following  pages  of  recipes  and  suggestions 
X  are  for  the  use  of  those  who  are  inexperienced 
in  cooking,  and  to  whom  a  comprehensive  cook  book 
seems  formidable.  I  have  selected  only  things  which 
from  personal  experience  are  most  frequently  used, 
either  by  themselves  or  as  a  basis  for  other  things. 
They  require  few  utensils,  are  in  the  main  economical, 
easy  to  make,  palatable,  nourishing  and  attractive. 
By  buying  bread,  it  would  be  possible  to  live  for  a 
long  time  and  have  plenty  of  variety  without  using 
anything  except  the  things  for  which  recipes  are  here 
given.  These  recipes  are  by  no  means  original. 
Many  of  them  are  taken  wholly  or  in  part  from  the 
very  reliable  cook  book — the  name  of  which  is  given 
in  the  bibliography. 

When  these  things  have  been  thoroughly  mastered, 
and  the  other  branches  of  housework  have  also  been 
reduced  to  their  simplest  form,  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  consult  a  good  cook  book  for  directions  for  more 
complicated  things  such  as  bread,  cake,  pastry  and 
elaborate  desserts. 

People  of  the  greatest  refinement  live  in  such  a 
simple  way  each  day,  that  they  are  not  embarrassed 
by  the  arrival  of  an  unexpected  guest.     The  table 

145 


146  APPENDIX 

is  set  with  as  great  care  for  a  simple  family  meal  of 
two  courses,  as  it  would  be  for  an  elaborate  dinner. 
Even  when  entertaining,  fussed-up  cooking  is 
avoided.  A  deep  bowl  containing  a  generouj>  quan- 
tity of  crisp  lettuce  leaves,  which  some  one  dresses 
on  the  table,  is  far  more  suitable  than  a  salad  that 
has  been  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made  beforehand, 
and  which  looks  like  the  colored  pictures  one  sees  in 
illustrated  household  magazines. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  keep  on  hand  something  green, 
such  as  parsley,  water  cress  or  lettuce,  with  which  to 
garnish  a  platter  of  meat  or  fish,  but  except  for  that 
nothing  is  needed  to  improve  the  looks  of  a  piece  of 
meat  that  is  properly  roasted  or  broiled. 

Most  things  are  best  when  allowed  to  retain  their 
own  individual  flavors,  but  it  is  well  to  know  how  to 
make  a  few  simple  sauces  which  bring  out  the  delicate 
flavor  of  certain  things  that  would  taste  rather  flat 
without  them. 

By  learning  how  to  make  the  things  here  given,  a 
housewife  may  keep  her  family  well  provided  without 
resorting  to  delicatessen  shops  for  ready-prepared 
foods  that  are  always  very  high  in  price  and  seldom 
as  good  as  home-made  things  that  are  properly  pre- 
pared. In  each  case  I  give  what  seems  to  me  the 
easiest  way  to  accomplish  the  desired  result.  I  do 
not  say  that  the  way  I  give  is  the  only  way  nor  the 
best  way,  except  when  time  and  money  are  things 
that  must  be  considered. 

The  easiest  way  to  entertain  is  to  invite  people  to 
come  very  informally  for  a  cup  of  tea  late  in  the 


APPENDIX  14T 

afternoon.  The  only  preparations  necessary  are  a 
tray  containing  a  pot  of  tea,  a  jug  of  hot  water,  a 
plate  with  slices  of  lemon,  sugar  and  cream;  cups, 
saucers,  spoons  and  small  tea  napkins  should  be  in 
readiness,  a  plate  of  thin  slices  of  bread  and  butter, 
or  dainty  sandwiches  and  a  plate  containing  sweet 
wafers,  cinnamon  toast,  meringues  or  any  other  sim- 
ple cakes.  Such  a  tea  costs  but  little  and  affords  a 
delightful  means  by  which  one  who  has  to  economize 
most  strictly  may  repay  her  social  obligations. 

Another  way  to  entertain  that  is  unique,  is  in  the 
winter  to  invite  people,  only  a  few  at  a  time  to  late 
Sunday  morning  breakfast,  giving  them  grapefruit, 
coffee,  sausages,  waffles  and  honey  or  maple  sirup. 

Coifee 

There  are  countless  ways  of  making  coffee  but  as 
each  way  calls  for  a  special  kind  of  coffee  pot,  I  give 
but  one  way,  as  it  is  possible  for  every  one  to  buy  an 
enameled  coffee  pot  in  which  excellent  boiled  coffee 
may  be  made.  Important  things  to  remember  are: 
to  keep  the  lid  of  the  coffee  pot  open  when  not  in  use 
so  that  it  may  air  well;  to  measure  the  water  accu- 
rately each  time — as  well  as  the  coffee  itself.  While 
it  is  possible  to  get  good  coffee  that  comes  ready- 
ground  in  a  tin  container,  it  is  still  better  to  have  a 
coffee  grinder  and  grind  the  bean  just  before  using  it. 

To  make  good  boiled  coffee 

Put  into  the  coffee  pot  as  many  cups  of  cold  water 
plus  one  cup  as  there  are  persons  to  be  served. 
While  this  is  coming  to  a  boil,  measure  the  same 


148  APPENDIX 

number  of  heaping  tablespoons  ful  of  medium-ground 
coffee  as  you  have  cups  of  water,  and  mix  it  in  a 
bowl  with  a  little  cold  water  and  a  whole  egg — shell 
and  all.  When  the  water  boils  put  in  the  coffee  and 
egg  mixture.  Stop  up  the  spout  of  the  coffee  pot 
with  paper,  and  allow  to  simmer  for  five  minutes, 
stirring  the  grounds  once  or  twice.  Let  stand  for 
three  minutes  after  it  is  done  to  settle.  Have  the 
pot  heated  from  which  the  coffee  is  to  be  served  on 
the  table,  before  pouring  into  it  from  the  enameled 
pot.  In  serving,  always  put  the  sugar  and  cream 
into  the  cup  before  the  coffee  is  poured  in.  If  con- 
venient have  the  cups  warmed. 

Tea 

Many  persons  prefer  tea  for  breakfast  instead  of 
coffee,  and  even  coffee  drinkers  like  it  now  and  then 
as  a  change,  particularly  when  served  as  an  accom- 
paniment of  coddled  eggs,  toasted  English  muffins 
and  orange  marmalade.  Breakfast  tea  is  usually 
made  somewhat  stronger  than  that  served  in  the  aft- 
ernoon, as  it  is  usually  taken  with  cream,  whereas 
afternoon  tea  is  quite  as  often  taken  clear  or  with 
lemon  and  tastes  better  when  not  so  strong.  It  is 
always  well  whenever  serving  it,  to  provide  a  jug  of 
hot  water  with  which  to  dilute  the  tea  to  the  desired 
strength.  English  Breakfast  tea  or  any  good  Cey- 
lon tea  is  usually  used. 

To  make  good  tea 

Have  a  pint  of  freshly  boiled  water  in  an  enameled 
sauce-pan.     Remove  from  the  fire  and  when  the  water 


APPENDIX  149 

stops  boiling,  put  into  it  three  level  teaspoons  of  tea. 
Cover  and  let  stand  for  five  minutes.  Strain  into  a 
heated  china  or  silver  tea  pot  and  serve  at  once.  For 
iced  tea  use  one  more  teaspoonful  of  tea  for  the  same 
amount  of  water,  but  make  in  the  same  way,  allow- 
ing it  to  cool  before  adding  ice. 

To  Tnake  cocoa 

Cocoa  is  a  good  drink  for  children,  particularly  in 
cold  weather. 

%  tablespoonful  of  cocoa 
1  tablespoonful  of  sugar 
1  cupful  of  boiling  water 
1  cupful  of  milk 
Small  pinch  of  salt 

Scald  milk ;  that  is,  put  it  in  the  top  of  the  double 
boiler  over  cold  water.  When  the  water  boils  the 
milk  will  be  scalded.  Mix  the  cocoa,  sugar  and  salt 
diluted  with  a  quarter  of  a  cup  of  boiling  water,  to 
a  smooth  paste.  Add  remaining  water  and  boil  one 
minute ;  turn  into  scalded  milk  and  beat  for  one  min- 
ute with  a  Dover  ^gg  beater. 

Batter  for  Waffles,  Griddle  Cakes  and  Mufflns 
9.  eggs 

1  pint  buttermilk  or  sour  milk  or  cream 
1  tablespoon  melted  butter 
1  pint  flour 
^  teaspoon  salt 
^  teaspoon  soda  dissolved  in  a  little  boiling  water 


150  APPENDIX 

Separate  the  eggs,  add  the  yolks  to  the  flour,  salt 
and  milk  and  beat  until  well  mixed  and  free  from 
lumps.  Add  butter  and  soda.  Beat  the  whites  of 
the  eggs  to  a  stiff  froth  and  add  at  the  last  minute. 
Pour  onto  the  griddle  or  waffle  iron  from  a  pitcher. 
Grease  should  be  applied  with  a  brush  used  only  for 
this  purpose. 

Griddle  cakes,  waffles  and  muffins  may  be  made 
with  the  same  batter.  The  muffins  are  baked  for 
fifteen  minutes  in  the  oven — in  muffin  tins.  Griddle 
cakes  may  be  baked  on  a  flat  greased  or  soapstone 
griddle,  while  waffles  require  a  waffle  iron  which 
should  be  kept  at  the  right  temperature  throughout 
the  process  of  baking,  the  irons  being  greased  on 
both  sides  for  each  waffle.  For  this  purpose  a  round 
brush  with  a  wooden  handle  is  best.  They  should  be 
served  at  once  on  a  hot  plate. 

Sausage  is  good  to  serve  with  waffles  or  griddle 
cakes.  The  best  way  to  cook  it  is  to  bake  it  in  the 
oven  in  a  covered  earthenware  casserole.  Any  su- 
perfluous grease  should  be  poured  off  before  placing 
the  casserole  on  the  table.  Lambs'  kidneys,  split, 
dipped  in  flour  that  has  been  well  seasoned  with  salt 
and  pepper,  and  placed  in  a  buttered  casserole,  then 
baked,  are  also  delicious  served  with  waffles.  To 
vary  this  dish,  slices  of  bacon  or  fresh  mushrooms 
or  both  may  be  baked  with  the  kidneys.  When  it  is 
not  possible  to  secure  pure  maple  sirup  a  very  good 
substitute  may  be  made  by  boiling  light  brown  sugar 
with  water  to  the  proper  consistency.     When  hot 


APPENDIX  151 

add  a  few  drops  of  Mapleine.     Let  cool.     Keep  some 
of  this  on  hand. 

Oatmeal  or  Rolled  Oats 

Add  four  parts  of  salted  water  to  one  part  of  oat- 
meal. Cook  for  three  hours  over  water  in  a  double 
boiler.  Cook  enough  to  serve  twice,  cooking  one  day 
and  warming  it  over  in  time  for  breakfast  the  next 
day.  The  rest  may  be  kept  covered  in  the  ice-chest 
until  needed. 

All  cereals  such  as  wheatena,  hominy,  cream  of 
wheat  and  farina  are  best  when  cooked  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  described  for  oatmeal.  These  are 
all  good  winter  cereals. 

For  use  in  the  summer,  dry  cereals  such  as  shred- 
ded wheat,  puffed  wheat,  corn  and  rice  are  very  pala- 
table when  dried  thoroughly  in  the  oven  and  eaten 
with  fruits  and  berries  in  season. 

Whole  Wheat  Gems 

Two  cups  of  whole  wheat  flour  mixed  with  just 
enough  cold  water  to  make  a  very  thick  batter,  that 
falls,  not  runs  from  the  spoon.  Add  a  dozen  Fard 
dates  cut  in  quarters.  Have  oblong  gem  pans 
greased  and  smoking  hot.  Fill  them  level  full  of  the 
batter  and  set  into  a  moderate  oven  to  bake  half  an 
hour. 

Popovers 

One  eggf  one  cup  of  sweet  milk,  one  cup  of  flour,  % 
teaspoon  of  salt.  Beat  well  all  together  with  Dover 
egg  beater.     Custard  cups,  well  greased  and  heated, 


152  APPENDIX 

should  be  filled  half  full.  It  will  require  thirty  min- 
utes in  a  moderate  oven  to  bake  them.  They  should 
be  twice  the  height  of  the  cup  when  done — ^brown, 
crisp  and  practically  hollow. 

Bacon 

The  most  economical  way  to  buy  bacon  is  by  the 
strip.  With  a  sharp  knife  it  may  be  cut  as  needed 
into  very  thin  slices. 

To  Cook  Bacon 
To  hake 

Place  on  a  rack  over  a  pan  containing  a  little  hot 
water.  Set  in  the  oven  and  let  bake  until  it  is  trans- 
parent and  crisp  without  being  in  the  least  burned. 
Remove  to  a  piece  of  absorbent  paper  until  grease  is 
absorbed,  then  serve  at  once  on  a  hot  plate. 

To  fry 

Place  in  a  skiUet  on  the  stove.  Watch  it  care- 
fully, turning  frequently  so  that  it  does  not  burn. 
When  thoroughly  cooked,  remove  to  a  sheet  of  pa- 
per ;  serve  when  dry  and  crisp. 

Eggs 
Coddled  Eggs 

Have  water  boiling  in  a  saucepan.  With  a  spoon 
lower  the  eggs  into  the  water,  cover  and  set  aside. 
At  the  end  of  four  minutes  they  will  be  ready  for 
those  who  like  very  soft  boiled  eggs.  At  the  end  of 
six  minutes  they  will  be  deliciously  jellied. 


APPENDIX  158 

Shirred  Eggs 

Have  porcelain  dish  for  shirring  eggs  well  but- 
tered and  heated.  Break  one  or  two  eggs  into  each 
dish,  sprinkle  with  salt  and  pepper  and  set  into  the 
oven  until  the  eggs  are  glazed  over  the  top.  Serve 
at  once  in  the  same  dish. 

Vermicelli  Eggs 

Separate  the  whites  from  the  yolks  of  hard  boiled 
eggs,  allowing  one  for  each  person  to  be  served,  with 
one  extra.  Chop  the  whites  of  the  eggs  and  mix 
them  with  a  rather  thick  white  sauce,  and  pour  over 
small  pieces  of  buttered  toast  arranged  on  a  hot  plat- 
ter. Over  all,  mash  through  a  sieve  the  yolks  of  the 
eggs  and  serve  at  once,  garnished  with  points  of 
buttered  toast. 

French  Omelette 

Break  eggs  into  a  bowl — as  many  as  there  are  per- 
sons to  be  served.  Break  eggs  with  a  fork — enough 
to  mix  the  yolks  and  whites — adding  a  tablespoon  of 
milk  for  each  egg.  Season  with  salt,  pepper.  Have 
butter  in  an  iron  skillet  sizzling  hot.  Turn  in  the 
omelet  mixture.  With  a  flexible  spatula,  keep  fold- 
ing over  the  thin  layers  of  the  mixture — that  cooks 
on  the  bottom  of  the  pan — letting  the  thin  part  run 
over  the  bottom  to  be  cooked.  When  all  is  cooked, 
let  brown;  turn  over  to  brown  on  the  other  side  and 
serve  at  once  on  a  hot  platter.  The  whole  process 
should  not  take  more  than  a  few  moments.  Chopped 
parsley,  chives — chopped  meat  may  be  mixed  with 
the  eggs — ^jelly  or  marmalade  may  be  added  after  it 
is  done,  according  to  the  taste. 


154  APPENDIX 

Creamed  Dried  Beef 

Tear  dried  beef  into  small  pieces.  Add  it  to  white 
sauce  made  without  salt.  Serve  on  small  slices  of 
buttered  toast. 

Brown  Soup  Stoclc 
6  lbs.  shin  of  beef 
3  quarts  cold  water 
y2  teaspoon  peppercorns 
6  whole  cloves 
^2  bay  leaf 
2  sprigs  parsley 

Carrot,  turnip,  onion,  celery,  %  cup  each,  cut  in 
dice. 

Wipe  beef,  and  cut  the  lean  meat  into  inch  cubes. 
Brown  one-third  of  meat  in  hot  frying-pan  in  mar- 
row from  a  marrow-bone.  Put  remaining  two-thirds 
with  bone  and  fat  into  soup  kettle,  add  water  and  let 
stand  for  thirty  minutes.  Place  over  a  slow  fire, 
add  browned  meat,  and  heat  gradually  to  the  boiling 
point.  As  scum  rises  it  should  be  removed.  Cover 
and  cook  slowly  six  hours,  keeping  just  below  the 
boiling  point.  Add  vegetables,  cook  one  and  one- 
half  hours,  strain  and  cool  as  quickly  as  possible. 
Skim  off  the  fat  that  rises  and  hardens  on  top  when 
cold. 

Macaroni  Soup 

1  quart  Brown  Soup  Stock 

^  cup  macaroni,  broken  into  half-inch  pieces 

Salt 

Pepper 


APPENDIX  155 

Cook  macaroni  in  boiling  salted  water  until  soft. 
Drain  and  add  to  stock,  heated  to  boiling  point. 
Season  with  salt  and  pepper.  Spaghetti,  noodles, 
vermicelli  or  other  Italian  soup  pastes  may  be  substi- 
tuted for  macaroni. 

Julienne  Soup 

To  one  quart  Brown  Soup  Stock  add  one-fourth 
each  of  carrot  and  turnip  cut  in  thin  strips  one  and 
one-half  inches  long,  previously  cooked  in  boiling 
salted  water.  Add  two  tablespoons  each  of  cooked 
peas  and  string  beans.     Heat  to  boiling  point. 

White  Soup  Stock 

The  water  in  which  fowl  or  chicken  is  cooked  makes 
white  stock. 

White  Soup  Stock  II 
4  lbs.  knuckle  of  veal 
2  quarts  boiling  water 
1  tablespoon  salt 
^  teaspoon  peppercorns 

1  onion 

2  stalks  celery 

Wipe  meat,  remove  from  bone,  cut  in  small  pieces. 
Put  meat,  bone,  water  and  seasonings  in  kettle. 
Heat  gradually  to  boiling  point,  skimming  fre- 
quently. Simmer  four  or  five  hours  and  strain 
through  double  thickness  of  cheesecloth. 

Asparagus  Soup 

3  cups  white  stock 
1  can  asparagus 


156  APPENDIX 

2  cups  cold  water 

1  slice  onion 
14  cup  butter 
14  cup  flour 

2  cups  scalded  milk 
Salt  and  pepper 

Drain  and  rinse  asparagus;  reserve  tips.  Add 
stalks  to  cold  water;  boil  five  minutes,  drain,  add 
stock  and  onions;  boil  thirty  minutes,  run  through 
sieve  and  bind  with  butter  and  flour  that  have  been 
cooked  together.     Add  salt,  pepper,  milk  and  tips. 

All  cream  soups  may  be  made  similar  to  the  above, 
using  a  very  thick  white  sauce,  thinned  with  white 
soup  stock  and  flavored  with  any  desirable  vegetable 
— cooked,  put  through  a  sieve  and  mixed  with  the 
liquid. 

Canned  soups,  particularly  the  clear  soups,  are 
excellent,  so  it  is  no  longer  absolutely  necessary  to 
go  through  the  long  process  of  soup  making  unless 
one  prefers  to  do  so. 

Oyster  Stew 

1  quart  oysters 

4  cups  scalded  milk 

^  cup  butter 

^  tablespoon  salt 

y^  tablespoon  black  pepper 

Clean  oysters  by  placing  in  a  colander  and  pour- 
ing over  them  three-fourths  cup  of  cold  water.  Pick 
over  the  oysters,  reserve  liquor  and  heat  it  to  the 
boiling  point ;  strain  through  double  cheesecloth,  add 


APPENDIX  157 

oysters  and  cook  until  they  are  plump  with  curled 
edges.  Remove  oysters  with  a  skimmer,  put  into  a 
tureen  with  butter,  salt  and  pepper.  Add  oyster 
liquor,  strained  a  second  time,  and  milk.  Serve  with 
crisp  oyster  crackers. 

Ways  of  Cooking  Salt  and  Canned  Fish 
Creamed  Salt  Codfish 

Pick  salt  codfish  in  pieces  and  soak  in  lukewarm 
water  until  soft,  and  until  the  greater  part  of  the  salt 
has  been  removed.  Drain  and  add  to  one  cup  of  thin, 
white  sauce.  Remove  from  fire.  Add  one  egg  well 
beaten  just  before  serving.  This  is  best  when  cream 
is  used  in  making  the  white  sauce.  Good  with  baked 
potatoes. 

Codfish  Balls 

1   cup  salt  codfish 

S  heaping  cups  potatoes 

1  tablespoon  butter 
%  teaspoon  pepper 

Wash  fish  in  cold  water  and  cut  with  scissors  into 
very  small  pieces.  Wash,  pare  and  soak  potatoes, 
cutting  into  pieces  of  uniform  size  before  measuring. 
Cook  fish  and  potatoes  in  boiling  water — to  cover — 
until  potatoes  are  soft.  Drain,  return  to  kettle  and 
mash  thoroughly.  Add  butter,  beaten  egg  and  pep- 
per. Beat  with  fork.  Add  salt  if  necessary.  Drop 
by  spoonfuls  into  deep  fat,  allowing  four  to  each 
frying.     Drain  on  paper.     Serve  very  hot. 


158  APPENDIX 

Baked  Finnan  Haddie 

Put  fish  in  dripping  pan ;  surround  with  milk  and 
water  in  equal  proportions ;  place  on  back  of  range 
to  heat  slowly.  Let  stand  half  an  hour;  pour  off 
liquid,  spread  with  butter,  and  bake  for  half  an  hour. 

Creamed  Salmon  or  Tuna  Fish 

Remove  bones  and  skin  from  a  can  of  salmon  or 
Tuna  fish.  Break  up  meat  in  small  pieces  and  add 
to  a  thick  white  sauce.  Just  before  serving,  remove 
from  the  fire;  add  juice  of  one-half  lemon  and  the 
yolk  of  one  egg  well  beaten.  This  is  good  served  in 
a  ring  of  rice. 

Meats 

Best  cuts  for  broiling  are :  porterhouse,  sirloin  and 
cross-cut  of  rump  steaks. 

To  BroU  Steak 

Place  on  broiler ;  turn  several  times  during  the  first 
two  minutes  so  that  the  meat  will  be  seared  on  the 
outside  and  the  juices  kept  in.  Steak  1^  inches 
thick  will  take  six  minutes  to  cook  if  liked  rare. 
Eight  or  ten  minutes  if  liked  well  done.  Remove  to 
hot  platter,  spread  with  butter,  sprinkle  with  salt 
and  pepper. 

Hamburg  Steak 

1  pound  top  of  the  round  beef. 

Salt,  pepper  and  onion  juice  (if  liked). 

Grind  the  meat  at  home  in  a  chopper.  Add  sea- 
soning. Shape  in  balls — not  too  hard.  Broil. 
Serve  with  Maitre  d'Hotel  Butter. 


APPENDIX  159 

Roast  Beef 

Best  cuts  for  roasting  are :  tip  or  middle  of  sirloin, 
back  of  rump  or  first  three  ribs.  The  former  is  best 
for  a  small  family ;  the  latter  for  a  large  family. 

To  Roast  Beef 

Rub  over  with  salt  and  dredge  meat  and  pan  with 
flour.  Place  in  a  hot  oven  so  that  surface  may  be 
quickly  seared.  After  flour  in  pan  is  browned,  re- 
duce heat  and  baste  every  fifteen  minutes.  Allow 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  minutes  to  the  pound,  accord- 
ing to  whether  the  meat  is  desired  rare  or  well  done. 

To  make  good  gravy 

Remove  all  but  about  two  tablespoons  of  grease 
from  the  pan.  Have  bowl  of  milk  thickened  with 
flour  and  seasoned  with  salt  and  pepper.  Pour  this 
into  the  pan  and  place  on  top  of  the  stove  to  boil. 
When  brown  and  of  the  right  consistency,  strain  into 
a  gravy  bowl  to  pass  at  table. 

Fillet  of  Beef 

This  is  the  whole  tenderloin  and  though  more  ex- 
pensive than  other  roasts  there  is  no  waste  to  it  and 
it  makes  a  very  good  cut  to  use  when  entertaining. 
It  should  be  larded,  and  roasted  for  from  twenty  to 
thirty  minutes.  It  is  best  when  served  with  broiled 
fresh  mushrooms  or  with  mushroom  sauce. 

Fot  Roast 

Put  a  four-pound  piece  of  beef  cut  from  the  round 
into  a  covered  pot  or  kettle,  with  seasonings  and  less 
water  than  half  covers  the  meat.     Let  it  cook  four 


160  APPENDIX 

hours,  keeping  the  liquor  below  the  boiling  point. 
Thicken  the  liquor  to  serve  as  a  gravy.  Horseradish 
sauce  is  good  served  with  Pot  Roast. 

Boiled  Smoked  Tongue 

Parboil  the  tongue  for  five  minutes.  Pour  off  the 
water.  Cover  with  boiling  water  and  let  cook  for 
several  hours  or  until  tender.  Remove  outer  skin 
while  hot.  Serve  at  once.  Spinach  is  a  good  ac- 
companiment of  smoked  tongue. 

Braised  Fresh  Tongue 

Put  fresh  tongue  in  kettle,  cover  with  boiling  water 
and  cook  slowly  two  hours.  Take  tongue  from  water 
and  remove  skin  and  roots.  Place  in  deep  pan  and 
surround  with  one  cup  each  of  carrot,  onion  and 
celery  cut  in  dice,  and  one  sprig  of  parsley;  then 
pour  over  four  cups  of  sauce.  Cover  closely  and 
bake  two  hours,  turning  after  the  first  hour.  Serve 
on  a  platter  with  sauce  strained  around  the  tongue. 

Sauce.  Brown  one-fourth  cup  of  butter,  add  one- 
fourth  cup  of  flour  and  stir  together  until  well 
browned.  Add  gradually  four  cups  of  water  in 
which  the  tongue  was  cooked.  Season  with  salt  and 
pepper  and  add  one  teaspoonful  of  Worcestershire 
Sauce.  One  and  one-half  cups  of  stewed  and  strained 
tomatoes  may  be  used  instead  of  some  of  the  water. 

Lifeer  and  Bacon 

Have  calves'  liver  cut  one-half  inch  thick.  Sprin- 
kle each  slice  with  salt  and  pepper.  Dredge  with 
flour  and  fry  in  bacon  fat.     Serve  garnished  with 


APPENDIX  161 

the  crisp  slices  of  bacon  which  have  been  drained  of 
grease  on  a  sheet  of  paper. 

Braised  Liver 

Have  upper  side  of  a  calf's  liver  larded.'  Place  in 
deep  pan  with  two  cups  of  brown  stock  or  water. 
Surround  with  onions — or  with  a  mixture  of  vegeta- 
bles, such  as  carrot,  onion  and  celery.  Cover  closely ; 
bake  for  two  hours,  uncovering  the  last  twenty  min- 
utes. Strain  liquor.  Add  to  one  and  one-half 
tablespoon  of  butter  and  two  tablespoons  of  flour 
melted  together.  Serve  sauce  separately,  but  gar- 
nish the  platter  with  the  vegetables. 

Corned  Beef  Hash 

Remove  skin,  gristle  and  most  of  the  fat  from 
cooked  or  canned  corned  beef.  Chop  and  mix  with 
an  equal  quantity  of  chopped  boiled  potatoes.  Sea- 
son with  salt  and  pepper,  put  into  a  hot  buttered  fry- 
ing-pan, moisten  with  milk  or  cream,  stir  until  well 
mixed,  spread  evenly  and  place  on  a  part  of  the  stove 
where  it  may  brown  slowly  underneath.  Fold  and 
turn  onto  a  hot  platter.  Garnish  with  parsley,  and 
serve  with  fried  apple  rings. 

Lamb  and  Mutton  Chops 

To  broil — see  directions  for  broiling  beefsteak. 

Roast  Lamb 

Follow  directions  for  roasting  beef.  It  will  re- 
quire about  an  hour  and  three  quarters  to  roast  a  leg 
of  lamb. 


162  APPENDIX 

Irish  Stew 

Wipe  and  cut  in  pieces  three  pounds  lamb  from  the 
fore-quarter.  Put  in  kettle,  cover  with  boiling 
water,  and  cook  slowly  for  about  two  hours  or  until 
tender.  After  the  first  hour,  add  one-half  cup  each 
of  carrot  and  turnip  cut  into  one-half  inch  cubes, 
and  one  onion  sliced.  Fifteen  minutes  before  serv- 
ing, add  four  cups  of  potatoes  cut  in  quarter-inch 
slices,  previously  parboiled  five  minutes  in  boiling 
water.  Thicken  with  one-fourth  cup  of  flour  mixed 
to  a  thin  paste  with  cold  water.  Season  with  salt 
and  pepper,  and  serve  in  an  earthenware  casserole 
which  has  been  warmed. 

Veal  Cutlets  and  Veal  Chops 

Season  with  salt  and  pepper.  Dredge  with  flour 
and  fry  in  drippings  or  butter.  Fry  slowly  and  keep 
well  covered,  so  that  the  meat  may  be  thoroughly 
cooked. 

Fricassee  of  Veal 

Wipe  two  pounds  of  sliced  veal  cut  from  the  loin, 
and  cover  with  boiling  water;  add  one  small  onion, 
two  stalks  of  celery,  and  six  slices  of  carrot.  Cook 
slowly  until  meat  is  tender.  Remove  meat,  sprinkle 
with  salt  and  pepper,  dredge  with  flour  and  fry  in 
pork  fat.  Strain  liquor ;  thicken  with  flour  and  pour 
around  the  veal  when  serving. 

Pork  Chops 

Sprinkle  with  salt  and  pepper,  place  in  a  hot  fry- 
ing pan  on  top  of  the  stove  and  cook  slowly  until  ten- 


APPENDIX  163 

der  and  brown.     Garnish  platter  with  rings  of  apples 
cut  one-half  inch  thick  and  fried. 

Roast  Pork 

Sprinkle  with  salt  and  pepper,  place  on  a  rack  in  a 
dripping  pan  and  dredge  meat  and  bottom  of  the  pan 
with  flour.  Bake  in  a  moderate  oven  three  or  four 
hours.  After  the  first  hour  surround  the  roast  with 
tart  apples  that  have  been  cored  and  stuck  with  sev- 
eral whole  cloves.  Let  the  apples  bake  with  the  pork 
and  serve  as  a  garnish  and  as  a  substitute  for  a  green 
vegetable. 

Broiled  Ham 

Soak  a  slice  of  ham  one  hour  in  lukewarm  water. 
Drain,  wipe  and  broil  for  five  minutes. 

Boiled  Ham 

Soak  several  hours  or  over  night  in  cold  water  to 
cover.  Wash  thoroughly,  trim  off  hard  skin  near 
end  of  bone,  put  in  a  kettle,  cover  with  cold  water 
and  heat  to  boiling  point.  Cook  slowly  until  tender. 
Remove  kettle  from  range  and  set  aside  that  the  ham 
may  partially  cool ;  take  from  the  water,  remove  out- 
side skin,  sprinkle  with  sugar  and  fine  cracker 
crumbs.  Stick  with  cloves  one-half  inch  apart. 
Bake  one  hour  in  a  slow  oven.  Serve  hot  or  cold, 
thinly  sliced. 

POULTEY 

Best  way  to  hroil  a  chicken 

Place  in  dripping  pan,  skin  side  down;  sprinkle 
with  salt  and  pepper,  dot  with  butter,  and  bake  fif- 


164  APPENDIX 

teen  minutes  in  a  hot  oven.     Finish  cooking  on  a 
broiler  to  brown. 

Boiled  Fowl 

Tie  a  four-pound  fowl  neatly  together,  and  place 
in  a  piece  of  cheesecloth.  Place  on  a  wire  rack  in  the 
bottom  of  a  kettle,  half  surround  it  with  boiling 
water,  cover  and  cook  slowly  until  tender.  Add  salt 
the  last  hour. 

Chicken  Fricassee 

Dress,  clean  and  cut  up  a  fowl.  Put  in  a  kettle, 
cover  with  boiling  water,  and  cook  slowly  until  ten- 
der, adding  salt  to  water  when  chicken  is  about  half 
done.  Pour  off  some  of  the  stock  to  keep  for  soup. 
Thicken  the  remainder  with  milk  and  flour  mixed  to  a 
smooth  paste  and  seasoned.  Serve  all  on  a  platter, 
the  pieces  of  chicken  being  carefully  arranged  and 
the  gravy  poured  over  them. 

Maryland  Chicken 

Cut  up  two  chickens,  sprinkle  with  salt  and  pepper, 
dip  in  flour,  white  of  egg  and  crumbs ;  place  in  a 
well-greased  dripping-pan,  and  bake  twenty  minutes 
in  a  hot  oven,  basting  after  first  five  minutes  with 
one-third  cup  of  melted  butter.  Arrange  on  platter 
and  pour  over  two  cups  of  white  sauce  made  with 
cream. 

Potatoes 
Baked  Potatoes 

Select  smooth,  medium-sized  potatoes.  After 
washing,  place  in  a  hot  oven.  Bake  forty  minutes 
and  serve  at  once.     A  variation  of  a  plain  baked  po- 


APPENDIX  165 

tato  is  to  roll  it  until  soft;  1.  make  two  cuts  at  right 
angles  on  one  side  of  the  potato ;  open ;  put  in  a  good 
sized  piece  of  butter,  salt  and  a  generous  sprinkling 
of  paprika. 

2.  Cut  potato  in  half,  scoop  out  the  inside,  mash 
well ;  mix  with  butter,  salt,  pepper  and  chopped  pars- 
ley. Heap  into  the  potato  skin  and  place  in  the  oven 
to  brown  slightly. 

Boiled  Potatoes 

Select  potatoes  of  uniform  size.  Wash,  pare  and 
drop  at  once  into  cold  water  to  soak.  Cook  in  boil- 
ing salted  water  until  soft.  Drain  and  serve  in  open 
vegetable  dish,  with  chopped  parsley  on  top,  melted 
butter,  browned  butter  or  a  white  sauce. 

Mashed  Potatoes 

Boil  as  above  until  softer  than  if  serving  boiled. 
Drain,  mash  with  a  wooden  masher  until  free  from 
lumps.  Add  cream  or  milk,  butter  and  salt.  Beat 
with  a  fork  until  creamy.  Reheat  and  pile  lightly  in 
a  hot  dish. 

Hashed  Brown  Potatoes 

Cut  cold  boiled  potatoes  into  tiny  cubes.  Have 
butter  or  drippings  hot  in  frying  pan.  Put  the  po- 
tatoes in,  season  well  with  salt  and  pepper,  turn  fre- 
quently until  all  are  hot,  then  spread  out  over  the 
pan  to  brown  underneath.  Fold  over  and  serve  on  a 
hot  platter. 

Creamed  Potatoes 

Cut  boiled  potatoes  in  dice.  Cover  in  top  of 
double  boiler  with  a  thin  white  sauce  made  with  cream 


166  APPENDIX 

if  possible  and  well  seasoned.     Let  heat  until  a  thick 
creamy  mass. 

Baked  Sweet  Potatoes 

Bake  as  white  potatoes. 
Boiled  Sweet  Potatoes 

Cook  twenty  minutes  in  boiling  salted  water. 
Glazed  Sweet  Potatoes 

Pare  and  boil  medium-sized  potatoes.  Cook  ten 
minutes  in  boiling  salted  water.  Drain,  cut  in  halves 
lengthwise,  and  put  in  a  buttered  pan.  Brush  over 
them  with  a  sirup  made  with  one-half  cup  of  light 
brown  sugar,  four  tablespoons  of  water  and  one  of 
butter,  and  boiled  three  minutes.  Bake  the  potatoes, 
fifteen  minutes,  basting  them  with  the  remaining 
sirup.  They  are  good  made  this  way  in  an  earthen- 
ware casserole  and  served  in  it. 

Green  Vegetables 

All  green  vegetables  should  be  washed  in  cold  water 
and  cooked  until  tender  in  boiling  salted  water. 
Their  color  will  be  kept  better  if  a  pinch  of  soda  is 
added  just  before  putting  them  into  the  water  and  if 
the  lid  is  left  off  the  kettle. 

Asparagus 

Wash  well.  Cut  off  hard  ends.  Tie  in  a  bunch ; 
stand  up  in  lower  part  of  double  boiler,  the  ends  out 
of  the  water.  Cover  with  upper  part  of  boiler  so 
that  the  tips  may  cook  with  the  steam.  Serve  on 
toast  with  melted  butter  poured  over  it,  with  white  or 
Hollandaise  sauce. 


APPENDIX  167 

Green  Sti4ng  Beans 

If  tender,  string,  cut  with  scissors  aslant  of  the 
bean  in  half-inch  pieces,  cook  for  one-half  hour  in 
boiling  salted  water  to  which  a  pinch  of  soda  has 
been  added. 

Wow  Beam 

String  and  cut  crosswise  in  half-inch  pieces.  Cook 
as  green  string  beans  until  tender.  Serve  with  white 
sauce  thinned  and  mixed  with  the  beans. 

Lima  Beans 

Remove  young  lima  beans  from  the  pods.  Cook 
in  boiling  salted  water  until  tender.  Drain.  Mix 
with  butter,  pepper  and  salt  or  with  a  thin  white 
sauce. 

Boiled  Beets 

Wash  and  cook  young  beets  in  boiling  water  until 
soft ;  it  will  take  at  least  an  hour.  Drain ;  add  but- 
ter, pepper  and  salt.  They  may  be  sliced  thin  before 
seasoning  is  added  if  preferred. 

Boiled  Cabbage 

Cut  a  solid  head  of  cabbage  into  quarters  and  re- 
move the  tough  stalk.  Cook  in  uncovered  vessel  in 
boiling  salted  water  to  which  one-fourth  teaspoon  of 
soda  has  been  added.  It  will  take  from  thirty  min- 
utes to  one  hour.  Drain  and  serve.  It  is  good 
served  with  white  sauce. 

Cauliflower 

Soak  in  salted  water,  head  down,  for  thirty  min- 
utes.    Leave  a  few  of  the  tender  green  leaves  on. 


168  APPENDIX 

Cook  head  up,  for  twenty  minutes  In  boiling  salted 
water.  Serve  whole  with  white  sauce  poured  over. 
Hollandaise  sauce  may  be  served  with  cauliflower. 

Celery 

Cut  in  one-half  inch  pieces.  Boil  in  salted  water 
for  twenty  minutes  or  until  tender.  Drain  and  mix 
with  white  sauce. 

Corn 

Green  corn  should  have  husks  and  silk  removed 
before  being  plunged  into  a  kettle  of  boiling  water. 
It  should  cook  from  ten  to  fifteen  minutes.  Serve 
with  a  napkin  folded  around  it,  or  cut  from  cob  and 
heat  with  butter,  pepper  and  salt. 

Boiled  Onions 

Put  onions  in  cold  water  and  remove  the  skins 
while  under  water.  Drain,  put  in  saucepan  and 
cover  with  boiling  salted  water;  boil  five  minutes, 
drain,  and  again  cover  with  boiling  salted  water. 
Cook  one  hour  or  until  tender.  Drain,  add  a  little 
milk,  cook  five  minutes,  season  with  butter,  salt  and 
pepper. 

Creamed  Onions 

Cook  as  above  and  cover  with  a  white  sauce  made 
with  cream. 

Green  Peas 

Remove  from  pods,  cover  with  cold  water  and  let 
stand  one-half  hour.  Cook  until  tender  in  a  small 
quantity  of  boiling  water,  adding  salt  and  a  little 
sugar  the  last  fifteen  minutes.     Drain  off  any  water 


APPENDIX  16d 

that  is  left.     Season  with  salt  and  pepper.     Add 
butter. 

Boiled  Spinach 

Remove  roots.  Pick  over  carefully  and  wash  in 
several  waters  until  very  clean.  Put  into  a  stew  pan 
with  a  pinch  of  soda.  Allow  to  heat  gradually  and 
cook  twenty -five  minutes  in  its  own  juices.  If  it  is 
old  it  should  be  cooked  as  other  vegetables  in  boiling 
salted  water.  Drain,  chop  fine,  reheat  and  season 
with  butter,  salt  and  pepper.  Garnish  with  slices  of 
hard  boiled  egg. 

Tomatoes 
Sliced  Tomatoes 

Wipe,  and  cover  with  boiling  water ;  let  stand  one 
minute,  then  skin.  Chill  thoroughly,  cut  in  one-half 
inch  slices  and  serve  with  a  French  dressing  —  with 
or  without  lettuce  leaves. 

Broiled  Tomatoes 

Cut  in  halves  crosswise  and  cut  off  a  thin  slice 
from  rounding  part  of  each  half.  Sprinkle  with 
salt  and  pepper,  dip  in  crumbs,  egg  and  crumbs 
again,  place  in  a  well  buttered  broiler  and  broil  six 
to  eight  minutes. 

Stewed  Tomatoes 

Wipe,  pare,  cut  in  pieces;  put  In  a  stew  pan  in 
which  some  cubes  of  bread  have  been  fried  in  butter 
until  a  golden  brown.  Season  with  chopped  onion, 
sugar,  salt,  pepper  and  butter  and  let  cook  slowly 
for  twenty  minutes. 


170  APPENDIX 

Scalloped  Tomatoes 

Canned  or  fresh  tomatoes  may  be  first  stewed  and 
then  put  into  a  baking  dish  with  alternate  layers  of 
bread  or  cracker  crumbs,  having  the  top  covered 
with  the  crumbs  and  dots  of  butter.  Bake  until  the 
crumbs  on  top  are  quite  brown. 

How  to  cook  rice 

Have  three  pints  of  boiling  salted  water  in  a 
sauce-pan.  Into  it  sprinkle  gradually  a  cup  of 
washed  rice.  Do  not  let  the  water  stop  boiling.  It 
will  take  about  twenty  minutes  for  the  rice  to  be  thor- 
oughly cooked.  Put  into  a  colander,  pour  over  it  a 
pint  of  boiling  salted  water  and  stand  the  colander 
in  a  very  slow  oven  so  that  the  rice  may  dry  and 
become  very  flaky.  Serve  as  a  vegetable  with  but- 
ter or  as  a  cereal  with  sugar  and  cream. 

Mayonnaise  Dressing 

1  teaspoon  dry  mustard 

1  teaspoon  salt 

%  teaspoon  powdered  sugar 
Dash  of  cayenne 
Yolks  2  eggs 

2  tablespoons  lemon  juice 
2  tablespoons  vinegar 
iy2  cups  olive  oil 

Mix  dry  ingredients,  add  egg  yolks  and  when  well 
mixed  add  one-half  teaspoon  of  vinegar.  Add  oil 
gradually,  drop  by  drop  at  first.     As  mixture  thick-i 


APPENDIX  171 

ens  add  vinegar  or  lemon  juice.  Alternate  with  oil 
until  all  are  used,  stirring  constantly.  Everything 
should  be  as  cold  as  possible,  and  in  the  end  the  ma- 
yonnaise should  be  stiff  enough  to  hold  its  shape. 
Do  not  add  to  salad  until  the  last  moment  as  it 
quickly  melts. 

A  small  quantity  may  be  made  very  quickly  by 
putting  proportionate  ingredients  into  a  jelly  glass 
and  using  a  small  sized  Dover  egg  beater.  By  add- 
ding  chopped  sour  pickle  to  this,  Tartare  sauce  for 
fish  and  crabs  is  made. 

Russian  Dressing 

%  cup  of  French  Dressing 

%  cup  of  Mayonnaise  Dressing 

14  cup  tomato  catsup 

S  tablespoons  chopped  green  pepper 

1  teaspoon  powdered  sugar 

French  Dressing 

^2  teaspoon  salt 
Y4.  teaspoon  pepper 
Dash  of  cayenne 
Grenerous  sprinkling  of  paprika 
1  tablespoon  of  plain  and  tarragon  vinegar  to- 
gether 

4  tablespoons  olive  oil 

Mix  dry  ingredients  with  the  vinegar,  then  add 
the  oil,  one  tablespoon  at  a  time.  The  bowl  may  be 
rubbed  with  onion  or  garlic  before  the  salad  vege- 
table is  put  into  it. 


172  APPENDIX 

BoUed  Cream  Dressing 
14  tablespoon  salt 
%  tablespoon  mustard 
%  tablespoon  sugar 
1  egg  slightly  beaten 
2^  tablespoons  melted  butter 
14  cup  mild  vinegar 
%  cup  sweet  or  sour  cream 

Mix  ingredients  in  order  given.     Stir  constantly 
in  top  of  double  boiler  over  boiling  water. 

Use  French  Dressing  with: 

Plain  Lettuce 

Romaine 

Endive 

Chicory 

Combination  of  any  of  the  above  with  tomatoes, 
cucumbers,  onion  and  green  pepper 

Sliced  tomatoes  alone 

Sliced  cucumber  alone 

Shaved  young  cabbage 

Combination  of  grapefruit,  celery,  white  grapes 

Sliced  oranges  and  Bermuda  onion 

Hawaiian  pineapple 

Orange 

Grapefruit 

Use  Boiled  Dressvng  for: 

Potato  salad  with  hard  boiled  egg  and  cucumber 
Salmon  or  Tuna  fish 
Whole  tomato  with  lettuce 


APPENDIX  173 

Chicken 
Cold  slaw 
Stuffed  eggs 

Use  Mayonnaise  Dressing  for: 

Whole  tomatoes  stuffed  with  chopped  cucumber. 
Green  vegetable  salads,  such  as  string  bean  salad, 
pea  salad,  celery  salad,  asparagus  salad. 

Use  Russian  Salad  Dressing  with: 

Hearts  of  lettuce  cut  in  halves  or  in  quarters 
Plain  Romaine 

Sandwiches  Suitable  foe  Lunch  ob  Afteenoon 

Tea 

Rolled  Sandwiches 

Have  a  large  loaf  of  fresh  bread.  Cut  off  all  the 
crust  from  the  entire  loaf.  Cut  the  loaf  in  two  and 
begin  cutting  slices  in  the  center  of  the  loaf  where 
the  slice  is  largest.  Have  butter  creamed.  Spread 
the  bread  before  cutting  it  both  with  the  butter  and 
with  orange  marmalade  or  with  whatever  soft  mix- 
ture you  desire.  Have  a  very  sharp  carving  knife 
and  cut  even  slices  as  thin  as  possible,  then  roll,  and 
arrange  in  a  neat  pile  on  a  plate.  If  prepared  be- 
forehand they  should  be  lightly  covered  with  a  damp 
napkin  or  paraffin  paper  as  they  dry  very  quickly 
on  account  of  being  so  thin. 

Egg  and  Green  Pepper  Sandwich 
1  medium  sized  green  pepper 
1  hard  boiled  egg 
y2  cup  boiled  dressing 


174  APPENDIX 

Put  pepper  and  egg  through  a  chopper.  Mix 
with  the  dressing  and  use  as  a  filling  between  slices 
of  buttered  white  bread.     Cut  any  desired  shape. 

Celery  Mayormaise  Sandwich 

Put  celery  through  the  fine  blade  of  a  chopper. 
Mix  with  oil  mayonnaise,  and  use  as  a  filling  between 
slices  of  buttered  white  bread. 

Tomato  Sandwich 

Remove  skin  from  tomato.  Cut  in  very  thin 
slices,  salt  and  put  between  thin  slices  of  white  bread 
and  butter. 

Onion  Sandwich 

Very  thin  slices  of  Bermuda  onion — dipped  in 
French  Dressing — ^may  be  used  as  a  filling  for  sand- 
wiches of  white  bread. 

Brown  Bread  and  Cream  Cheese 

Use  brown  bread  that  has  been  baked  in  a  half- 
pound  Baking  Powder  tin.  Cut  slices  thin,  spread 
with  butter  with  a  filling  of  cream  cheese  seasoned 
with  cayenne  and  paprika. 

Club  Sandwich 

Cut  toast  in  diamond  shape.  Butter  and  have  a 
layer  of  crisp  bacon,  a  lettuce  leaf,  mayonnaise 
dressing,  white  meat  of  chicken,  mayonnaise,  thin 
slice  of  tomato,  and  toast  on  top.  This  sandwich  is 
more  suitable  for  luncheon  or  late  supper  than  after- 
noon tea. 


APPENDIX  175 

Sauces 
Thm  White  Sauce 
2  tablespoons  butter 
IY2  tablespoons  flour 
114  cup  scalded  milk 
^  teaspoon  salt 
Pepper  or  paprika 

Melt  butter  with  seasoning  in  sauce  pan.  Add 
flour  and  stir  until  well  blended.  Add  milk  gradu- 
ally and  stir  until  thick.  It  may  stand  in  the  top  of 
the  double  boiler  over  hot  water  until  needed. 

Cream  Sauce 

Same  as  above,  using  cream  instead  of  milk. 
Maitre  d* Hotel  Butter 

14  cup  butter 

%  teaspoon  salt 

y^  teaspoon  pepper 

^  tablespoon  finely  chopped  parsley 

%  tablespoon  of  lemon  juice 

Put  butter  in  a  bowl;  work  until  creamy  with 
wooden  spoon.  Add  salt,  pepper  and  parsley  and 
lemon  juice  very  slowly. 

Mint  Sauce 

14  cup  finely  chopped  mint  leaves 

^2  cup  white  vinegar 

1  tablespoon  powdered  sugar 

Add  sugar  to  vinegar;  when  dissolved  pour  over 
mint  and  let  stand  thirty  minutes  on  back  of  range. 


176  APPENDIX 

Hollandaise  Sauce 
y^  cup  butter 
Yolk  of  one  ^gg 
Juice  of  y<2,  lemon 
Salt 
Cayenne 

Put  ^gg  yolk,  salt  and  cayenne  in  top  of  double 
boiler  over  warm  water — away  from  the  fire.  Have 
butter  divided  into  small  pieces  on  a  plate.  Add 
one  piece  at  a  time  until  all  are  melted  with  the  egg 
yolk.  The  water  must  not  be  hot  enough  to  cook 
the  ^gg — ^just  warm  enough  to  melt  the  butter.  Add 
gradually  the  lemon  juice  and  serve  at  once,  with 
fish,  cauliflower,  artichokes  or  asparagus. 

FauiT  Sauces 
Apple  Sauce 

Wash  apples  well;  quarter  them  without  paring. 
Leave  seeds  in  but  cut  out  all  that  is  not  good.  Put 
in  a  saucepan  with  a  little  water  and  sugar,  and  let 
cook  slowly  until  soft.  Add  sugar  if  necessary. 
Mash  through  a  colander.  Add  cinnamon  or  nutmeg 
if  liked — or  sprinkle  on  top. 

Rhubarb  Sauce 

Cut  rhubarb  in  inch  pieces.  Put  into  a  saucepan 
with  a  little  water  and  sugar.  Cook  until  soft. 
Add  sugar  if  required. 

Cranberry  Sauce 

Pick  over  and  wash  three  cups  cranberries.  Put 
in  a  saucepan,  add  one  and  one-fourth  cups  sugar 


APPENDIX  177 

and  one  cup  boiling  water.     Cover,  and  boil  ten  min- 
utes.    Do  not  let  them  boil  over. 

Cranberry  Jelly 

Pick  over  and  wash  four  cups  of  cranberries.  Put 
in  a  saucepan  with  a  cup  of  boiling  water  and  let  boil 
twenty  minutes.  Rub  through  a  sieve,  add  two  cups 
sugar,  and  cook  five  minutes.  Turn  into  one  large 
or  individual  molds. 

Baked  Apples 

Wash  and  core  as  many  Baldwin  apples  as  needed. 
Stick  into  each  one  three  whole  cloves.  Put  into  a 
baking  dish  with  water  in  the  bottom.  Fill  cavities 
of  the  apples  with  sugar.  Bake  in  a  hot  oven  until 
soft,  basting  now  and  then  with  the  liquid. 

Sweet  Sauces  fob  Desseets 
Foamy  Sauce 
Half  cup  butter 
1  cup  powdered  sugar 

1  teaspoon  vanilla 

2  tablespoons  wine  or  fruit  juice  if  desired 
^  cup  boiling  water 

White  of  one  egg  beaten  stiff 

Cream  butter ;  add  sugar,  vanilla  and  wine.  Just 
before  serving  add  the  boiling  water;  stir  well,  add 
egg  and  beat  until  foamy. 

Hard  Sauce 
%  cup  butter 

1  cup  powdered  or  soft  light  brown  sugar 
Flavor  with  vanilla,  wine,  or  maple 


178  APPENDIX 

Cream  the  butter ;  add  sugar  and  flavoring  gradu- 
ally.    Do  not  chill. 

Custard  Sauce 

Same  as  boiled  custard. 

Instead  of  Cake 
Meringues 

Beat  the  whites  of  two  eggs  to  a  stiff  foam.  Add 
gradually  two  cups  of  powdered  sugar.  Flavor  with 
vaniUa.  Drop  in  spoonfuls  on  a  greased  tin  and 
place  in  a  very  slow  oven  to  dry  for  about  an  hour. 
They  should  dry  entirely  before  being  allowed  to 
brown.     The  color  should  be  very  pale. 

Marguerites 

Beat  the  white  of  one  egg  to  a  stiff  foam;  add 
gradually  thick  maple  sirup  that  has  been  boiled 
until  it  threads.  Add  chopped  pecan  or  walnut 
meats  and  heap  on  Saratoga  wafers.  Place  in  a 
slow  oven  until  the  mixture  is  dry  and  slightly 
browned. 

HicJcorymit  or  Pecan  Wafers 
1  cup  nut  meats 
1  cup  sugar 
y2  cup  flour 

Mix  well  together  and  drop  on  buttered  tins. 
Bake  in  a  moderate  oven  until  brown. 


APPENDIX  179 

Little  Sponge  Calces 
Weigh  2  eggs 

Weigh  same  weight  of  powdered  sugar 
Weigh  ^  same  weight  of  flour 
Juice  and  grated  rind  of  one  lemon  to  five  eggs 
Little  vanilla. 

Separate  the  eggs.  With  a  Dover  egg  beater  beat 
yolks,  lemon  juice  and  sugar  together.  Add  gradu- 
ally the  flour,  sifted.  Add  lemon  rind  and  vanilla. 
Fold  in  the  whites  of  the  eggs  beaten  very  stiff. 
Drop  into  buttered  tins  for  drop  cakes.  Sprinkle 
powdered  sugar  over  the  tops.  Bake  for  about 
twenty  minutes  in  a  moderate  oven. 

Simple  Dessebts 
Junket  for  two  persons 
y^  pint  of  milk 
1  tablespoon  of  sugar 
y^  junket  tablet 
%  teaspoon  vanilla 
Grated  nutmeg 

Dissolve  sugar  in  milk  in  an  enameled  saucepan 
over  a  low  flame.  Leave  until  lukewarm.  It  must 
not  boil.  Dissolve  junket  by  crushing  it  in  a  few 
drops  of  cold  water  in  the  bottom  of  a  sherbet 
glass.  Add  vanilla  to  the  milk,  then  add  the  junket. 
Mix  well  and  quickly  pour  into  two  sherbet  glasses — 
to  remain  in  a  warm  room  until  set.  They  must  not 
be  disturbed  until  then,  when  they  should  be  placed 


180  APPENDIX 

where  it  is  cold.     Grate  nutmeg  over  the  top  of  each 
glass  just  before  serving. 

Ctbstard  for  two  persons 
Yolk  of  1  Qgg 

1  tablespoon  of  granulated  sugar 
Pinch  of  salt 
%  pint  of  milk 
Vanilla 

Mix  the  egg  yolk,  sugar  and  salt  in  a  bowl,  using 
an  egg  beater.  Add  to  the  milk  which  is  placed  in 
the  top  of  the  double  boiler  over  boiling  water.  Stir 
constantly  until  the  mixture  coats  the  spoon.  Re- 
move at  once,  let  cool,  then  add  the  vanilla  and  turn 
into  glasses  from  which  it  is  to  be  served.  The  white 
of  the  egg  may  be  beaten  at  the  last  moment  and, 
heaped  on  top  of  the  custard,  will  make  it  a  "floating 
island." 

Cup  custards 

The  above  recipe  may  be  used  in  making  baked 
custards  by  simply  adding  the  egg,  sugar  and  salt 
mixture  to  the  milk  after  it  has  been  scalded,  and 
after  adding  the  flavoring  turn  at  once  into  custard 
cups  and  set  into  a  hot  oven  in  a  pan  of  water  that 
is  just  below  the  boiling  point.  It  will  require  fif- 
teen minutes  to  bake  them.  Test  by  inserting  a  sil- 
ver knife.  An  agreeable  departure  from  this  is  to 
use  grated  maple  sugar  for  sweetening  and  to  have 
a  piece  of  maple  sugar  in  the  bottom  of  each  cup 
before  adding  the  mixture. 


APPENDIX  181 

Compote  of  Fruit — Served  with  custard  sauce 

Stew  any  fruit  such  as  strawberries,  gooseberries, 
currants,  plums,  green  gages,  peaches  or  figs,  adding 
a  very  little  water  and  enough  sugar  to  keep  them 
from  being  too  tart.  Let  cook  until  rather  thick. 
When  thoroughly  chilled  serve  with  a  custard  sauce. 

Creamy  Rice  Pudding 
1  quart  milk 

1  tablespoonful  of  washed  rice 
%  teaspoon  salt 
%  cup  sugar 

1  teaspoon  vanilla 

Mix  ingredients  and  pour  into  buttered  pudding- 
dish;  bake  three  hours  in  very  slow  oven,  stirring 
every  fifteen  minutes  during  the  first  hour  to  keep 
rice  from  settling.  Seeded  raisins  may  be  added  at 
the  end  of  the  first  hour  if  desired.     Serve  very  cold. 

Bread  Pudding 

2  cups  stale  bread  crumbs 

1  quart  scalded  milk 
Ys  cup  sugar 

^  cup  melted  butter 

2  eggs 

%  teaspoon  salt 
1  teaspoon  vanilla 

Soak  bread  crumbs  in  milk;  set  aside  until  cool; 
add  sugar,  butter,  eggs  slightly  beaten,  salt  and 
flavoring;  bake  one  hour  in  buttered  baking  dish  in 
a  slow  oven ;  serve  hot  with  hard  sauce. 


182  APPENDIX 

Prune  WJUp 

1  cup  of  prune  pulp 

Whites  of  five  eggs 

%  cup  sugar 

^  tablespoon  lemon  juice 

Pick  over  and  wash  prunes,  then  soak  several 
hours  in  cold  water;  cook  in  same  water  until  soft; 
remove  stones  and  mash  through  a  strainer,  add 
sugar  and  cook  five  minutes.  Beat  whites  of  eggs 
until  very  stiff;  add  prunes  when  cold,  and  lemon 
juice.  Pile  lightly  on  buttered  pudding-dish;  bake 
twenty  minutes  in  a  slow  oven.  Serve  cold  with 
boiled  custard. 

Apple  Meringue 

Fill  a  pudding-dish  half  full  of  apple  sauce. 
Spread  the  sauce  with  a  meringue  made  of  the  whites 
of  two  eggs  into  which  has  been  beaten  ^  cup  of 
powdered  sugar.  Flavor  with  vanilla.  Set  into  a 
slow  oven  until  the  meringue  is  quite  hard  on  top 
and  a  very  pale  brown.  Serve  very  cold,  with  cream 
or  custard  sauce  made  from  the  yolks  of  the  eggs. 

Fruit  Salad 

Shredded  pineapple,  sliced  oranges  and  sliced 
grapefruit — arranged  in  alternate  layers  and  sprin- 
kled with  powdered  sugar. 

To  Shred  Pineapple 

Pare  and  cut  out  the  eyes.  With  a  silver  fork 
pull  off  small  pieces  of  the  soft  part  until  nothing 
but  the  core  remains. 


APPENDIX  188 

To  slice  oranges  and  grapefruit 

Pare  off  the  outer  and  the  white  skin.  With  a 
sharp  knife  cut  out  the  sections,  leaving  the  white 
skin  that  separates  them.     Remove  all  seeds. 

Amhrosia 

Sections  of  orange,  powdered  sugar  and  shredded 
cocoanut  served  in  sherbet  glasses. 

Lemon  Jelly 

1  tablespoon  granulated  gelatine 

^  cup  cold  water 

1^  cups  boiling  water 

%  cup  sugar 

^  cup  lemon  juice 

Soak  gelatine  ten  minutes  in  the  cold  water.  Dis- 
solve in  the  boiling  water;  add  sugar,  lemon  juice 
and  thin  slices  of  outside  rind.  §train  into  a  mold 
that  has  been  wet  with  cold  water.  ChUl  and  serve 
with  custard  sauce. 

Orange  Jelly 

1  tablespoon  granulated  gelatine 

^  cup  cold  water 

%  cups  boiling  water 

"^2  cup  sugar 

%  cup  orange  juice 

\y2  tablespoons  lemon  juice 

Make  same  as  lemon  jelly. 

Wine  JeUy 

Same  as  orange,  add  ^  cup  cooking  Sherry. 


184  APPENDIX 

Coffee  Jelly 

1  tablespoon  granulated  gelatine 
14  cup  cold  water 

'Y2  cup  boiling  water 

2  tablespoons  sugar 
1  cup  boiled  coffee 

Make  same  as  lemon  jelly.     Serve  with  sugar  and 
cream. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The  House  in  Good  Taste 
The  Charm  of  the  Antique 

The  Practical  Book  of  Pe- 
riod Furniture  . 


Planning   and   Furnishing 

the  Home  .... 
Inside  the  House  of  Good 

Taste 

The    Furniture     of    Our 

Forefathers 
Box  Furniture 
House      Furnishing      and 

Decoration  .... 
The  Efficient  Kitchen  .  . 
Boston     Cooking     School 

Cook  Book  .... 
The    Small    Family    Cook 

Book  .  .  .  .  . 
The  New  Housekeeping  . 
How  to  Cook  in  Casserole 

Dishes 

The  Craft  of  Hand-Made 

Rugs       .      ,      . 


Elsie  de  Wolfe 
Robert    and    Elizabeth 
Shackelton 

Harold  Donald  Eber- 
lein  and  Abbott  Mc- 
Lure 

Mary  J.  Quinn 

Richardson  Wright 

Esther  Singleton 
Louise  Brigham 

McClure  and  Eberlein 
Georgie  Boynton  Child 

Fanny  M.  Farmer 

Mary  D.  Pretlow 
Christine  Frederick 


185 


M.  H.  Hill 
Amy  Mali  Hicks 


186  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Home  Economics  .      .      .     Maria  Parloa 
The    Small   House    for    a 

Moderate  Income     .      .     Ekin  Wallick 

Children's  Books 

The  Fun  of  Cooking  .      .     Caroline  French  Benton 
Housekeeping    for    Little 

Girls Olive  Hyde  Foster 

Little  Men  (  Chapter  called 

Pattypans)         .      .      .     Louisa  May  Alcott 

Charmingly  Illustrated  Books  Containing 
Ideas  for  Interior  Decorating 


H.  Willebeck  Le  Mair 


Our  Old  Nursery  Rhymes 

Little  Songs  of  Long  Ago 

The  Children's  Corner 

Little  People 

Das  House  in  Der  Sonne  .     Carl  Larson 

little  Ann Kate  Greenaway 

Magazines 

House  and  Garden       .      .     The  Craftsman 
The  House  Beautiful  .      .     Vogue 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Advantages    of   living   on    a 

small  scale,  32,  33 
Alabaster  bowls,  77 
Ambrosia,  183 
Andirons,  38 
Antique  cut  glass,  97 
Apples,  baked,  177;  meringue, 

182;  sauce,  176 
Asparagus,  soup,  155;  served 

on     toast     with     buttered 

sauce,  166 

Bacon,  buying,  baking,  fry- 
ing, 152;  liver  and,  160 

Bambino,  47 

Bathroom,  46 

Bed  cover,  45 

Bed  linen,  102 

Bedroom,  61,  62,  63,  64;  orna- 
ments, 110;  pictures,  105; 
rug,  91;  used  as  living- 
room  because  sunny,  23 

Beef,  roast,  159;  flUet  of,  159; 
corned,  161;  creamed  dried, 
154 

Beets,  boiled,  167 

Beans,  green  string,  wax, 
lima,  167 

Bishop  and  glass  lamp,  12 

Black  furniture,  37 

Black  handrail,  37 

Black  and  white  reproduc- 
tions, 104 


Bleaching  fabrics,  143 

Bok,   Mr.,   of  Ladies'   Home 

Journal,  33 
Books  as  decorations,  39 
Bonnet  box,  46 
Brass,    to    lacquer,    133;    to 

clean,  133 
Bread  pudding,  181 
Breeding,  111 

Brown  bread  and  cheese,  174 
Brown  color  scheme,  22 
Brussels  carpets,  89,  90,  91 
Built-in  bookcase,  39 
Bulbs,  122 

Cabbage,  boiled,  167 

Cakes,  little  sponge,  179 

Calendar,  116 

Candles,  in  the  dining-room, 
76;  in  the  bedroom,  77;  ar- 
rangement of,  for  Christ- 
mas decorations,  126,  127, 
128,  129,  130 

Candlesticks,  to  remove  wax 
from,  134 

Candle  shades,  to  clean  mica 
lining  of,  138 

Canisters,  29,  43 

Care  of  children's  rooms,  112 

Carols,  128,  129 

Casement  windows,  86 

Casseroles,  95 

Cauliflower,  167 


180 


190 


INDEX 


Ceilings,  hei^t  of,  37;  to 
clean,  134;  center  lights 
from,  39 

Celery,  168 

Chandeliers  and  metal  work 
painted,  16 

Character,  111 

Chickens,  broiled,  163;  fricas- 
see, 164;  Maryland,  164 

Chimneys,  to  clean,  134 

Chinese  embroidered  strips, 
41;  primroses,  123 

Chintz,  to  clean,  133 

Chops,  lamb  and  mutton,  161 

Christian,  111,  112 

Christmas  tree,  125,  126 

Qock,  116 

Closet  made  of  jut  in  wall,  118 

Cocoa,  149 

Codfish,  creamed  salt,  balls, 
157 

Coffee,  boiled,  147;  jelly,  184 

College  pennants,  11 

Colonial  homestead,  4;  re- 
stored, 6 

Colored  reproductions  of  pic- 
tures, 104 

Cotton  fabrics,  to  set  color 
in,  to  tint,  139 

Conveniences,  112 

Cook  books,  116 

Corn,  168 

Cranberry,  sauce,  176;  jelly, 
177 

Crane,  Walter,  6 

Cupboard  covering  partition 
window,  15 

Curtains,  bathroom,  46;  Ba- 
tiste, 82;  casement  cloth, 
82,  85;  casement  window, 
86;  chambray,  85;  China 
silk,  83;  chintz,  85;  cheese- 


cloth, 82,  86;  cretonne,  85; 
denim,  65,  88;  Dutch  cur- 
tains, 65;  filet  lace,  81;  fix- 
tures, 84;  French  door,  87; 
front  door,  36,  80,  81;  glass,' 
82,  83;  guest  room,  46;  In- 
dia cotton,  85;  Java  cotton, 
65;  kitchen,  44;  linen,  82, 
85,  88;  monk's  cloth,  85,  88; 
muslin,  82,  86;  net,  82,  86; 
over  curtains,  63,  64;  por- 
tiferes,  87;  rope,  88;  rep,  85, 
88;  scrim,  82;  silk,  85;  suit- 
ability of,  80;  sunfast  mate- 
rials, 84,  88;  tarlton,  82; 
theatrical  scrim,  62;  un- 
bleached cotton,  82,  85; 
valances,  82;  velour,  85,  88; 
velvet,  85;  vestibule  door, 
81;  voile,  82 
Curtain  rings,  to  clean,  135 
Custard,    for   two,   cup,    180; 

sauce,  178 
Cyclamen,  123 

Decorated  china,  95 
Decoration  of  Colonial  rooms, 

7 
Delia  Robbia,  36,  125,  128 
Descriptions    and   price   lists, 

57;  of  bedroom,  61,  62,  63, 

64;  dining-room,  65,  66,  67; 

hall,  57,  58;  kitchen,  67,  68; 

living-room,     58,     59,     60; 

nursery,    69;    sewing-room, 

64;  vestibule,  57 
Desserts,   179,   180,   161,   182, 

183,  184 
Dining-room,  40,  65,  66,  67; 

rug  for,  19,  90 
Dishes,  41,  94,  95,  96 
Doctor's  suite,  14 


INDEX 


191 


Don'ts  for  amateur  decora- 
tor, 72,  73,  74 

Door  knocker,  46 

Dressing,  boiled  cream,  173; 
French,  171 ;  mayonnaise, 
170,  173;  Russian,  171,  173 

Dried  flowers  and  pods  for 
winter  decoration,  124 

Dust,  to  lay  when  sweeping, 
134 

Duster,  dustless,  136 

Earthenware,    to    keep    frwn 

breaking,  136 
East  India  drugget,  89,  90,  91 
Editor's    letter    contained    in 

"The   Little    House"   book- 
let, 55,  56 
Effect  of  plain  light  paper  as 

opposed    to    dark    figured 

paper,  21 
Eggs,    coddled,    152;    French 

omelette,  153;  shirred,  153; 

vermicelli,  153 
Electric  fixtures,  38,  39,  41,  42, 

46 

see  lighting,  75 
Encaustic,  141,  142 
Enclosed  shelves,  40 
English  ivy,  41,  122 
Essential     features     in     the 

choice  of  a  home,  22,  34 
Extracts   received   by   "Little 

House"  Editor,  52,  53,  54 

Family  portraits,  105 
Fashions,  79 

Figured  paper,  37,  72,  73 
Finnan  haddie,  baked,  158 
Fire-irons,  38 

Fish,  ways  of  cooking,  30,  157 
Floors,  38;  to  oil,  143;  to  pol- 
ish, 141,  142 


Floor  coverings,  89;  bedroom, 
91;  Brussels,  89,  90,  91; 
dining-room,  90;  domestic 
rugs,  90;  East  India  drug- 
get, 89,  90,  91;  hall,  89; 
hand-woven  wool  rug,  89, 
90;  linoleum,  57,  91;  living- 
room,  89,  90;  Oriental,  89, 

90,  91;  oval  rag  rugs,  92; 
rag    rugs,    hand-woven,    89, 

91,  92;  machine  made,  89, 
90,  91;  Saxony,  89,  90,  91; 
Scotch  wool  rug,  89,  90 

Flowers  in  house  decoration, 

122 
Fowl,  boiled,  164 
French  doors,  38,  40,  41,  87 
French  prints,  45 
Fruit,  compote  of,  181;  salad, 

182;  sauces,  176;  in  house 

decoration,  124 
Fuchsias,  123 
Furniture,   polish,    136,    141; 

treatment  for  faded,  143 

Garbage  pail,  29,  43 

Geraniums,  46 

Gilt,  to  remove  fly  specks 
from,  138 

Glass,  to  clean.  138,  139 

Glass  door,  36 

Glassware,  cut  glass,  antique, 
97;  modem,  96;  for  wash- 
stand,  46;  list,  97;  pressed 
Colonial,  96;  to  keep  from 
breaking,  136 

Glue,  136 

Good  taste,  79 

Grapefruit,  to  slice,  183 

Gravy,  159 

Grease  stains,  to  remove,  137 

Greenaway,  Kate,  6 


192 


INDEX 


Griddlecakes,  149 
Guest  room,  19,  45 

Hall,   37,   57,   58;    floor    cov- 
erings, 89;  lighting  fixtures, 
75,  76 
Ham,  broiled,  boiled,  163 
Handrail,  37 
Hash,  corned  beef,  161 
Hepplewhite  furniture,  41 
Hickorynut  wafers,  178 
Hook  for  provision  slips,  116 
Hour  work  for  cleaning  wom- 
an, 31 
Housekeeping  for  children,  10 
Housework,  31;  schedule  for, 

115;  system  in.  111 
Hyacinths,  123 

Ice  chest  painted  to  match 
furniture,  28,  44 

Impressionistic  painting,  40 

Individualty  in  house  decora- 
tion, 55 

Irish  stew,  163 

Italian  fringed  towels,  45 

Japanese  prints,  104;  towel- 
ing, 46 

Javelle  water,  143 

Jelly,  coffee,  184;  cranberry, 
177;  lemon,  183;  orange, 
183;  wine,  184 

Juniper,  123 

Junket  for  two  persons,  179 

Jut  in  wall,  used  as  closet, 
118;  occupied  by  two  beds, 
119 

Kitchen,  30  x  40  inches,  16, 
27,  28,  29,  42;  linens,  101; 
ornaments,  44;  utensUs,  43 


Lamb  chops,  161;  roast,  161 

Lamp  for  living-room,  107 

Lanterns,  76 

Large  pictures,  to  hang,  103 

Leaded  domes,  75,  77 

Leather,  to  clean,  polish  and 
restore  surface  of,  137 

Liemon  jelly,  183 

Library  paste,  113,  140 

Lighting  fixtures,  bathroom, 
77;  bedroom,  46,  77;  din- 
ing-room, 41,  76;  hall,  75, 
76;  kitchen,  42,  76;  living- 
room,  library  and  music- 
room,  38,  76;  selection  and 
placing  of,  75;  on  stairs, 
77;  vestibule,  75 

Lighting  theory,  77,  78 

Linen  list,  101 

Linoleum,  57,  91;  to  clean, 
136;  home-made,  186 

Liquid  soda,  144 

Liver  and  Bacon,  160; 
braised,  161 

Living-room,  38,  105,  107,  108 

Maid's  room,  47 

Magazine  stand,  120 

Mantel  ornaments,  108 

Marguerites,  178 

Matches  and  ash  trays,  113 

Matting,  to  clean,  135 

Mattress,  20 

Meringues,  178 

Mid- Victorian  furnishings,  6 

Moldings,  40 

MuflSns,  149 

"My  Room,"  8 

Newspapers  and  Magazines, 
113,  114 


INDEX 


193 


Nickel,    to     remove     tarnish 

from,  139 
Nine-roomed   suburban  home, 

first  floor,  35;  second  floor, 

36 

Oak    chiffonier    transformed, 

120 
*'Oak    trim"    not    good    with 

mahogany,  22 
Oatmeal,  151 

Odd  pieces  of  tableware,  99 
Office,  47 
Old   inside  blinds,  what   can 

be  done  with,  119,  120 
Onions,  boiled,  creamed,  169 
Open  stock  china,  94 
Orange    jelly,    183;    how    to 

slice,  183 
Oriental  rugs,  89,  90,  91 
Ornaments,  106 
Outside  decoration  of  houses, 

Christmas  Eve,  129 
Oval  braided  rugs,  45 
Overhead  lights,  76 
Oyster  stew,  156 

Pad  and  pencil,  116 

Paint,  to  remove,  141 

Paint  brushes,  to  keep  clean, 

141 
Paneled  walls,  40 
Paper  furniture,  3 
Paper  white  narcissus,  122 
Paste,  library,  113,  140 
"Patty  Pans,"  9 
Peas,  green,  168 
Pecan  wafers,  178 
Percentage  of  women  who  do 

their  own  work,  51 
Piano  keys,  to  clean,  140 
Pictures,    103,    104,    105;    af- 


fecting treatment  of  room, 

40;    that    repeat    color    of 

rest  of  room,  39 
Pincushion,  113 
Pineapple,  to  shred,  183 
Plated  silver,  97,  98 
Playhouses,  9 
Polish,     for     furniture,     136, 

141;  for  silver,  139 
Polished  floor  without  rug,  41 
Popovers,  151 
Porcelain,  to  clean,  133 
Pork,  chops,  162;  roast,  163 
Portiferes,  87 
Potatoes,   baked,    164;   baked 

sweet,     166;     boiled,     165; 

boiled  sweet,  166;  creamed, 

165;     glazed     sweet,     166; 

hashed  brown,  165;  mashed, 

165 
Prune  whip,  182 
Pussy  willow,  123 

Rag  rugs,  89,  90,  91,  92 
Religious  pictures,  place  for, 

105 
Rented    apartments    and 

houses,  bow  to  improve,  13, 

14,  15,  16,  17,  18,  19,  20,  21, 

22,  23 
Rep,  85,  88 
Rhubarb  sauce,  176 
Rice,   creamy   pudding,    181; 

how  to  cook,  170 
Rope  portiferes,  88 

Salad,  fruit,  182 

Salmon,  creamed,  158 

Sandwiches,  brown  bread  and 
cheese,  174;  celery  mayon- 
naise, 174;  club,  174;  egg 
and     green     pepper,     173; 


194 


INDEX 


onion,  174;  rolled,  173;  to- 
mato, 174 

Sauces,  for  desserts,  177,  178; 
for  meats  and  vegetables, 
175,  176;  fruit,  176 

Sausage,  150 

Saxony  carpets  and  rugs,  89, 
90,  91 

Scales,  116 

Schedules  of  work,  114,  115 

Scotch  wool  rugs,  19,  89,  90 

Sewing  machine  as  dressing 
table,  19,  121 

Shades,  82,  86 

Silver,  94;  cloth  for  polish- 
ing, 135;  polish,  139 

Silverware,  97 

Sink  built  high,  27 

Slip  covers  for  bed  ends,  118; 
for  chairs,  117 

Soup,  asparagus,  155;  Juli- 
enne, 155;  macaroni,  154; 
stock,  154,  155 

Spinach,  boiled,  169 

Stains,  to  remove,  137,  141 

Steak,  Hamburg,  158;  to 
broil,  158 

Stoves,  to  remove  rust  from, 
138 

Sunfast  material,  41,  84,  88. 

Table  cloths,  100 
Table  linen,  100 
Tableware,  94 
Tapestry,  to  clean,  135 
Tea,  148 
Telephone,  44 
Temperamental  requisites  for 

living  in  small  quarters,  33 
Tiles,  36;  colored  with  alabas- 

tine,  16,  S3 


Toilet  articles,  45 

Tomatoes,  broiled,  169;  sand- 
wiches, 174;  scalloped,  170; 
sliced,  169;  stewed,  159 

Tongue,  boiled  smoked,  160; 
braised  fresh,  160 

Tool  chest,  112 

Train  and  street  car  sched- 
ules, 113 

Two  beds  occupying  space  of 
one,  27 

Two-roomed  apartment,  26 

Ugly    things    improved,    117, 

118,  119,  120,  121 
Upstairs  broom  closet,  113 

Veal,  cutlets,  chops,  fricassee 

of,  162 
Vegetables,     how     to      cook 

green,  166 
Vestibule,  36 

Waffles,  149 

Wall  paper,  to  remove,  140; 

to  remove  stains  from,  137; 

to  repair,  140 
Walls,  38,  46;  to  prepare  for 

papering,  140 
Washstand  set  of  clear  glass, 

46 
Whole  wheat  gems,  151 
Wild  fruit  blossoms,  123 
Window    lighting    on    Christ- 
mas Eve,  127 
Window    shelves    for    plants, 

38,  40 
Wine  jelly,  184 
Woodwork,  37,  46 
Writing  materials  and  table, 

113 


IK 


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